WhoTale Season 1
by AWildMissingnoAppeared
Summary: In an AU where the eighth human never fell into the underground, The Tenth Doctor saves the underground from the clutches of Asriel Dreemurr. But a new threat from outside the Underverse is threatening to take over. With the Undertale universe being threatened by its parallels and the outcomes they bring, the Doctor needs a companion. The Royal Guard was nothing compared to this.
1. WhoTale: An Unlikely Companion

The Doctor pondered how he was going to say goodbye this time. The Underground had been so welcoming to him…and here he was, running away to somewhere no-one would be able to follow, whether he liked it or not, once again. But this time…he had formed what everyone thought were to be lasting friendships. The kind and motherly face of Toriel, fiesty and energetic Undyne, Sans, with whom he sympathised so well, Alphys, who was a nerdy geek, simply put, Asgore the repaired king, and Papyrus. There was something about Papyrus that the Doctor just seemed to love. He wasn't sure if it was the way he spoke, or just how childlike he really was, he seemed like...a good mate.

If only, the Doctor thought, I hadn't allowed myself to become best mates with him. Now I have to say goodbye all over again.

The crunch of boots in the falling snow only accentuated his feelings further.

"Hello, Doctor!" Papyrus proclaimed cheerfully. The Doctor turned around, and smiled as if nothing was wrong, and waved back to him. "Allo. Taking one last look at your hometown, eh?" Papyrus stopped and took a look at the Snowdin landscape around him before answering: "Well, yes, now I am! But…Doctor. I thought you should know. Sans said he had something he wanted to talk to you about! So I thought, why not come and tell you myself, since my brother is so lazy!" The Doctor couldn't supress a smile. The two of them walked back through Snowdin together, until Papyrus pointed out a small clearing: "We were just sitting behind here…"

Sans turned around, slowly as he usually did, and smiled at the pair of them. "heya." The Doctor sat down by Sans, Papyrus slowly slinking out of sight. He had suspected this would be a hush-hush top secret private talk…but he didn't mind. He was used to his brother keeping secrets from him.

"so, time lord. i wanted to talk to you about something that might interest you." he said, turning to The Doctor. "you know how you keep talking about severed timelines? well, it's probably time i told you why they're there."

The Doctor's ears pricked up. He'd been too busy to actually investigate, and was now hoping secretly that there was still some unfinished buisness.

"i don't know about your world, but in our world, once humans fall into the underground, they can do something called a 'reset.' it's exactly what it sounds like, only worse. time doesn't just get rolled back to when they first enter the cavern. no. everyone gets ripped from this timeline, and placed into a new one."

The Doctor felt like he was in the Prydonian Academy all over again, learning about the universe. He felt a sinking kind of dread, however as he realised what that entailed.

"So that means anyone in the Underground can basically alter time and space without consequence?"

"yup. that's what it always teaches them, anyway. no consequences. always ends badly.-"

"It's not that. You can't just go altering timelines without some effect on the time space continuum. I'm surprised this world hasn't fallen apart already.

"welp. thanks for that."

"This is serious. This kind of thing is what my people endlessly worked to try and prevent. This kind of meddling with time and space itself can't go without some kind of effect."

"interesting. but what i really wanted to tell you is…i've been worried at the moment. every time the world is freed from the underground, they just reset it back to nothing. i've seen it again and again. so just…tell me when."

"I've told you, Sans. This kind of thing goes against the laws of time and space itself. The last thing I want to do is stretch the problem further. I'm not going to reset."

"that's what they all tell me."

"Just trust me on this one."

"ok. whatever you say, doctor."

The two of them met Papyrus outside the clearing, who had been waiting patiently, and trying not to listen, but he could already tell that what they were talking about he wouldn't have wanted to hear. Sans looked more sullen than before, and The Doctor looked…almost scared. When the Doctor was scared…that meant no end of trouble was coming.

"So…do you guys want to go join the rest of the monsters at the barrier?" asked the Doctor, trying to change the subject off of nothing at all.

Sans said he'd find a shortcut, and seemed to disappear into the background. Papyrus said he'd walk with the Doctor, saying goodbye to his brother and asking him again how the heck he did that. Sans only answered with a subtle wink, and everyone left the clearing. Only the snow whirled where they once stood…

Snowdin seemed more peaceful than ever before, with the almost entire city gone to rejoice at the capital. The best part was, some of the lights were still on, giving the town an almost cartoonish feel. Papyrus was chattering about everything he would do on the surface, which included riding a large car…wind in his hair? Very strange, thought the Doctor, very strange. The Doctor talked about his ship, how his life went, and the things he'd seen, the people he'd met- Papyrus was quite entranced by his stories. Being a monster himself, he wasn't so ignorant of stories of life high above the sky he'd never seen.

"So, basically, I was lying in bed, my friend was screaming in my ear, and I woke up, what do I see? A robotic Christmas tree rampaging through their house. I managed to turn it off with my sonic screwdriver before collapsing back into bed. And you know what the best part was?"

"What?" gasped Papyrus, who'd had no idea that humans considered Christmas trees to be so dangerous.

"The entire time, the tree- someone had retrofitted it with a speaker- the tree was playing 'Silent- what?"

The Doctor stopped in his tracks as something appeared directly in front of him. It was the reset screen.

"What? WHAT."

"Did you do that?..." asked Papyrus, attempting to touch the holographic screen, "…Or does that thing come up by itself?"

"No, no, it definitely doesn't. Either it was involuntary, accidental, or someone's trying to make me reset."

"Well, they're not doing a very good job of it!" said Papyrus, dismissing the reset screen, and laughing the situation off.

"Unless…" mused the Doctor, inspecting the area where the screen was. "The act of preparing to reset has an effect anyway!" he snapped suddenly, whipping out his sonic screwdriver like a reflex, but this time, he turned to Papyrus and whispered a harsh, well-kept whisper:

"Don't tell Sans I'm doing this."

The Doctor opened the reset screen, voluntarily this time, and immediately started scanning the hologram with his sonic screwdriver. The whine coming from the machine dipped and frayed more and more as the pulsing light at the end got closer to the Reset button. When that gave no results, he whipped out a pair of 3D glasses and put them on and peered closer and closer to the reset screen.

"3D glasses! I normally wear those to be cool! Are you trying to be cool while you investigate?" whispered Papyrus, trying not to break the Doctor's concentration.

"Yeah, they're cool, you might say, but it also allows me to see…Void stuff!..." the Doctor replied, recoling backwards as he realised what he was seeing.

"Void…stuff?"

"Void stuff. The Void is the space between dimensions, and Void Stuff is what comes out of the Void when there's a breach. Why didn't I put on these things before!? Every time someone even tries to reset, it creates a small breach in this dimension. Those breaches become bigger and bigger until-"

The Doctor motioned an explosion with one hand.

"Bang. They open fully and whatever's been hiding out in the Void can come through. Someone's in the void and trying to get out, or they're trying to let someone else out!"

Papyrus just stood there, dumbfounded, until he snatched the Doctor's 3D glasses, and took a look for himself.

"Wooow!...Is this…Void Stuff?" he gasped, turning to the Doctor, and pointing at what to the naked eye would seem to be nothing at all.

"Yep. Wait, just tell me, how much of it is there?"

"Quite a bit. Doctor, this is so cool!" he replied, looking still closer.

"Definitely not cool. Everytime a Reset screen opens, more and more energy is being drawn into the Void to prepare the world for…who knows what…."

The Doctor closed the Reset screen before the already existing breach grew wider still, and ran from the scene, Papyrus running close behind, asking so many questions the Doctor almost couldn't cope with all of them.

Finally, as they ran under the giant mountain, still scarred by broken spears and the heat of battle, the Doctor stopped in his tracks. "I think we need to go see your resident time expert about this." he said, panting from all the running.

The reset screen appeared again, this time with the reset button placed exactly where the Doctor's hand had been.

"No, no, no, no, NO!" the Doctor screamed, closing the Reset screen. Papyrus whirled around, wondering what on Earth was the matter. "Whoever is up there trying to make me Reset, then those tricks won't work on me!-" he continued. "Papyrus, we definitely need to see your brother!…"

"So, basically, the reset screen keeps appearing without my input at all. Worse, when you even consider resetting, this…reset construct channels energy into the Void, the space between dimensions to open up. Someone or something is trying to get the world to collapse into this Void." the Doctor explained to Sans, trying to communicate his problem as simply as possible. Sans simply shrugged.

"welp, if you're asking me who's done it, i can't say for sure. my best guess is the flower, if he's still alive."

"I wasn't asking you who's done it. I just wanted to let you know."

Sans nodded, and went on with his day. The skeleton house was filled with nothing but cardboard boxes. Only the sofa remained. Papyrus was in his room meticulously trying not to put even a scratch on his Extra Rare Shiny Mettaton Figurine. It was a curious scene. Two different species sitting on little cardboard boxes talking about such things as the space-time continuum.

The two skeletons were planning to leave for the surface tomorrow. After all they had done, after all they'd been through, they deserved a rest, and were offering the Doctor one at their place as well, albeit on the couch. The Snowed Inn was long abandoned.

Midnight. The Doctor heard a low hum, just for half a second. He immediately woke up, looked around, and saw nothing. He dismissed it as being something else, and went back to sleep.

Once morning came, the Doctor felt like he'd just regenerated. He couldn't fully wake up for at least half an hour, even with the skeleton brothers clattering around behind him.

"See, Sans, my friend showed me these amazing glasses! He was talking about some kind of, weird Void thing, but when I look at some things through them…they have this cool green stuff coming off them!" Papyrus was babbling again, following his brother around the house. Sans was preparing to go buy some supplies for the surface: ("Did you want a sunhat, Papyrus?" "YES!") and The Doctor was attempting to make his own breakfast using only flour, ketchup, noodles, and garlic…

"Might not do your stomach good if you use that too often, mate." mentioned the Doctor, looking upon Papyrus with glee. Ever since the incident with the Reset screen, he was obsessed with the 3D glasses. He was staggering around the kitchen counter, desperately trying to find something. The Doctor had to supress a laugh when someone seriously stated "So why doesn't my fridge have green stuff coming off it?".

It felt almost like he had a companion again.

But no, he thought, shaking off the thought like a bug clinging to his arm. No, he would never last in the TARDIS.

"Hey, Doctor! I finally found something!"

"…Show me?"

Papyrus was staring intently at, of all things, the couch. "It's got the green stuff, Doctor! I've found some!"

"I've actually had…Void Stuff on me at one point. No, no, that doesn't work. Void Stuff can't be passed on to something that hasn't gone through the Void…."

The Doctor finally found the strength to get up.

"Do you mind if I move the couch?" he asked, cocking his head to one side, and testing his aching legs. He kept glancing back at the couch.

"Oh, allow me!" Papyrus replied, immediately pushing the couch to one side with enormous strength- wait, no. He moved it a couple of inches, before the Doctor came to help him push. The couch went crash straight into a collection of cardboard boxes. The Doctor recoiled at the sound, but Papyrus reassured him that it was fine. ("Never to worry! Those just had our cooking and cushions inside!") The Doctor peered over the side of the cushion. "Okay, check if the Void stuff has moved or- No."

Staring him in the face like an unsolvable clue lay the Reset screen. It gently flickered, taunting the Doctor with its innocence. "NO!" he yelled, amazed, instantly turning it off, glancing about him for glaring errors in the surroundings. He took the glasses from Papyrus, who at this point was completely gobsmacked, and stared at the spot where the hologram had been. "Whoever's doing this obviously isn't just some random glitch in the system. Papyrus, check the house. I'll monitor the area! Something might have come through- that rift was open all night! Tell me immediately if you see anything, I'll come!"

There was agonizing silence as Papyrus ran off to check every nook and cranny of the house.

"Doctor?...There's someone in Sans' bedroom."

The Doctor ran up the stairs, hugging the railings in an attempt to get up as fast as possible. He ran towards the door, intending to hold back Papyrus, but it was too late.

Papyrus had already gone in.

"Excuse me, metal man! You are tresspassing! How did you get in here? Explain yourself!" proclaimed Papyrus, with two parts arrogance, one part fear. He trembled slightly as he spoke, but desperately tried to stay confident in the face of this stranger.

"GET BACK!" yelled the Doctor, pushing Papyrus behind his brown coat. He didn't want to believe what had come through. Once again, he was bringing destruction in his wake.

A Cyberman stood before them both.

The Cyberman pointed at the door, and The Doctor heard the click of a lock. Papyrus turned straight around and started fumbling with the handle- with no success. The Doctor and the Cyberman stood eye to eye. His only weapon now were his words.

"So tell me, Cyberman. How did you end up here?"

The Cyberman's metallic voice program booted up, still staring the Doctor in the face with no emotion. "We did not choose this place. The breaches in your world took one Cyberform into the new area."

"Interesting. Very interesting. Now I know what you're going to do next…blame it on me, The Doctor, opening the breach. But that wasn't me. That was somebody else. Do you have any idea who that was?"

"We do not know of any other information."

"There was someone **behind** all this." whispered the Doctor, quickly and quietly transferring his sonic screwdriver into his hand- "someone who handed the vital key to you behind their back." – he forced it out out of the back out of his clasped hands, waving it from side to side- "and quietly unlock the last door to your freedom" – Papyrus took the sonic screwdriver and instantly knew what to do – "and then you and your companions can finally –

The lock clicked once again. "Doctor! It worked!-"

"-escape! Anyway. Questions over! Bye!"

The doorknob banged against the wall. Papyrus and the Doctor ran straight down the corridor, practically slid down the banisters, landing in a mess of cardboard boxes. "Clever plan, Doctor! Clever plan!" yelled Papyrus, enjoying the adventure, picking up a particularly large piece of cardboard, and waving it frantically, while the Doctor unlatched the front door and collapsed through it out straight into the freezing wind, the Cyberman in hot pursuit. Papyrus stood outside, panting, but the Doctor grabbed his hand, and whispered into his ear what he had whispered to so many before.

"Run."

The Cyberman was blinded by flying snow as their charges got away. There was no chance of him ever returning back to the Void, he knew. There was no purpose other than to convert. They gripped the Cyber-Conversion pods in his hand. The chase will begin.

"I need to confine or disable this metal man so it doesn't take anyone else. I need you to go. I need you to go back to your brother where you're safe." the Doctor protested. They had run, far, far away, through the hidden paths and rivers of Snowdin and Waterfall, running and running just as the Doctor always did. Papyrus bombared the Doctor with questions, gripping the Doctor's hand as tightly as he gripped his. The Doctor kept glancing backwards to see if his friend was alright, and every time he responded with a grin, as if he didn't know about the danger they were both in….did he not notice the clanking echoing through the cavern? Did he not notice the wobbling network of slat bridges?...Or was he just smiling to reassure him?...

"Papyrus…I've got your back." he said, smiling back, and switched places with Papyrus on the narrow bridge. Several shots flew past the Doctor, the two of them copying each other's ducks and evasions….but it was only a matter of time…only a matter of time…time, time, he didn't have enough time. Eventually the Cyberman would get used to the constantly changing center of gravity and began shooting far more accurately. Why did he have to drag anyone, let alone Papyrus, into this situation? "Faster!" he yelled.

The Cyberman noticed that none of his shots were hitting. It was time for a different approach. He looked straight down at the oscillating bridge, and shot five shots straight at the rope of the bridge.

The bridge collapsed, and in half a second, the two of them were hanging on from two fragile slats of the bridge. The Cyberman had dropped, and only managed to cling on with vice-like grip about fifty slats down the now fallen bridge. He was scrambling up with vervor…The Doctor looked at their predicament: the both of them were in danger if they didn't get out of there fast: to hold on much longer would be impossible.

"Go up. I can deal with this myself." the Doctor gasped. The rough slats of the bridge were slippery and covered in splinters, hurting his hands, impossible to be gripped by his shoes. The gaps were too thin for them to fit. He only had raw determination to keep him up there…"I can't put my shoes in. You can…create…bone platforms…can't you?..."

Papyrus found the strength in his neck to look down at the Doctor, who appeared to be gasping for breath. "…Leave you here?..." Papyrus gasped, looking at the Doctor in disbelief. He freed his left hand from the gap between the slats, and prepared to cast his magic…

The Doctor sensed something appearing below his feet.

"No! Underneath YOU!" the Doctor protested, who hadn't let go of the bridge despite the safety net.

"Are you implying I just sacrificed myself for you?..." muttered Papyrus, looking sullen. "Well, you're wrong!."

"PAPYRUS, DON'T LET GO!-"

"The Great Papyrus does not sacrifice himself for anyooooooone!-"

Papyrus let go of the bridge and practically cannonballed onto the platform he had made, and the bones beneath the both of them started the creak and strain. The Doctor grabbed Papyrus and Papyrus grabbed the Doctor, and Papyrus pointed his hand to the sky. The bone platform, which at this point was ready to break, rushed up into the cavern sky, the Cyberman following in suit.

"That's the spirit!" yelled the Doctor, impressed with Papyrus' verve, while keeping an eye on the rapily advancing Cyberman. Shocked at how quickly the Cyberman was ascending, he pointed his sonic screwdriver at the ropes of the bridge and turned it up to full power (Papyrus blocked his ears.) and the bridge collapsed beneath the Cyberman, plummeting it into the abyss below. The Doctor watched it fall into the abyss below- there goes my hope of investigating the cause, he thought. Wait, no.

"Are you able to direct this platform downwards?" asked the Doctor as politely as possible.

"Why on earth would you want to do that?"

"Investigation."

"Alright, Doctor…"

It took a full five minutes before the reached the bottom on the chasm. The Cyberman lay there in a pile of rocks and rubbish, sparking. Papyrus elected to stay on the bone platform, ready to go back up as soon as possible. He probably doesn't want to ruin his boots, he thought.

To his dismay, the Cybermen had developed new technology since he had last seen them. Some of them must have made sacrifices for them to build new technology. And worse, what the Cyberman seemed to be holding were conversion pods. A prototype to a living Cybermite, it seemed they had been preparing to go to this dimension for a long time, even if they didn't open the door. Tactfully, he removed the Cyberman's inner hard drive, and using the inbuilt screen, navigated to the orders folder. ORD-349 held a .txt file. Nothing more. He read it, poring over the words.

"Breaches have been made in a particular world. We are unsure about who. World is broken to such a degree, Cyberforms could use it as a terminal to other dimensions. Investigate once breaches are full. "

A terminal. The Undertale world was that badly broken. The Cyberman were coming not to convert, but take it over and use it convert dimensions otherwise unreachable. One Cyberman was dead. Knowing Cybermen, that wouldn't be enough to put them off.

Shaken by the discovery, the Doctor and his friend ascended to safe ground, the Doctor taking an arm with him. He made sure it was the blaster arm...

The capital was buzzing with joy as the Doctor and Papyrus pushed their way through the crowd of monsters celebrating their freedom. If only I could feel the same way, the Doctor thought…Podiums were placed all over the town square ready for King Asgore to make his speeches to the jubiliant masses. Already, the Doctor could see the castle. It was strangely empty, probably so that the Queen and the King could have a bit of downtime together- as if.

As the Doctor entered the barrier, he was greeted by…well, greetings, and inquiries of 'what took you two so long?' Undyne looked almost impressed with the state they were both in: wet, a bit dirty, and the Doctor with almost raw hands. "Did you hear? There's some activists who don't want to leave the underground. Did you get in a fight with them!?" she exclaimed, hoping for the affirmative answer. "Much worse than THAT." Papyrus replied, and he was soon telling Undyne all about what just happened to him and the Doctor.

Sans went over to join the conversation without anyone noticing, as he always did. He noticed what they were talking about…and wasn't very satisfied.

The Doctor managed to sneak away from the group of monsters, and walked into the judgement hall. There it was, behind the last pillar on the left.

His TARDIS.

Would he leave now without saying goodbye, or…should he say a farewell? He always hated this bit. It didn't take much to leave a planet without taking credit for saving it. But he didn't keep running without some regrets. He leaned against the door of his TARDIS, contemplating everything that just happened: the Cybermen, the plan, the danger this world was in…when something snapped him out of his reverie.

Again, boots. Boots on a limestone floor this time. Papyrus was staring in awe at what the Doctor had explained was a 'ship'. It wasn't like any ship he'd ever read about…for one thing, it certainly wouldn't float.

"Oh, 'allo. I was just going to pop into my ship so I can hopefully fix the reset glitch." he said, smiling cheerily, and went into his TARDIS. Papyrus followed on behind him. That was when he found out the inevitable.

"What the-"

Papyrus hugged the side of the door, checking outside and in the Tardis to see if it was some kind of trick, measuring all four sides, and even checking for a back entrance. Eventually he just gasped like a fish, and sat down on one of the large TARDIS chairs, exasperated.

"It's…It's…"

The Doctor prepared for, once again, the inevitable.

"It's bigger on the inside!"

They always said that. Rose, Martha, Donna, everyone said it! It was pretty amazing how everyone chose that phrase instead of 'it's smaller on the outside."

"So…this is a ship?! A spaceship?!"

"Yep. It's called the TARDIS. Quite unreliable, but I still love her."

"Unreliable?..."

"Last Type 40 TARDIS in the universe. See, I just…run, you know? Go from place to place, never knowing where I go next."

"You don't have any home?"

"Well, other than my TARDIS, no."

"I can only imagine how lonely you must be!..."

The Doctor couldn't shake the feeling that what he was saying was completely true. No matter how much he denied it, no matter how much he detested them breaking his hearts…the Doctor needed companions. Companions to keep him in check, companions to ward off the loneliness and the rememberance that he was the last of his kind. He'd become friends with Papyrus because…he just felt he needed one.

The question was, should he return the favor?

"I see what you're getting at, Papyrus. You want to travel with me, right?" he said, leaning on the console.

"Well, I did alright against the metal guy!"

"I suppose so, but, we don't deal in fights with just one Cyberman here. Life in the TARDIS is dangerous. Really dangerous. I don't just pick anyone."

"I am not just anyone, Doctor!"

Be fair on him, the Doctor was thinking. You picked up an old shop girl and all she did was run when you told her to run, and I don't think she even asked to be in the TARDIS. This guy's got magic powers, is pretty good with hidden instructions and on top of that already has armor on. Give him a chance, Doctor. Give him a chance.

"Well…we might have to go see your brother about this."

"look. if he leaves now, he will never be able to see the sky."

"Oh, he'll see so much more than the sky. Trust me, this thing can go anywhere."

"welp. let me get this straight. my brother wants you to whisk him off in this tardis of yours for a heck of a long time, and into some possibly fatal situations. you expect me to just wait at home worrying about him?" Sans was protesting. The Doctor wasn't winning the argument. Time to play the final card.

"It can travel in time as well."

"prove it." Sans replied.

There was a pause. What would he bring back this time?

"Hey, Sans! I was planning to make a new kind of spaghetti for my leaving party!" Papyrus shouted back to the two of them from the kitchen. How convenient, thought the Doctor. This would be amusing.

The Doctor walked back into the TARDIS, and let it dematerialize. The two skeleton brothers had two completely different reactions: Papyrus was absolutely horrified, while Sans was anticipating a gift from beyond time itself.

The TARDIS immediately rematerialized behind Sans- he was holding something behind his hand, and quietly slipped it to him. Sans smiled again, a real smile this time- there was a new kind of spaghetti, undoubtedly terrible but still spaghetti. Spaghetti from the future. The Doctor put a finger to his mouth.

Sans made a note of the date and time. "welp. bring him back 'tomorrow', if you know what i mean." The Doctor smiled, and said a quiet 'yep.' He turned to Papyrus, ready for anything. "He says yes!"

The house practically exploded with Papyrus' excitement, he slid down the banister cheering 'YES! YES! YES!', Sans was sitting there thinking "So this is what woud have happened if he got let into the Royal Guard…" and The Doctor was beaming. He had never seen someone so happy to be allowed into his TARDIS, perhaps tied with Donna. "Come on, let's GO, let's GO!" Papyrus yelled, grabbing spare scarf after spare scarf off of the shelves of his room.

The Doctor turned to Sans. He was beckoning for the Doctor to come closer. "What?" he mumbled, turning to him.

"i'll let him go with you, doctor. but if papyrus does not come back alive-"

Sans' eyes went blacker than the night and his voice gained a hollow growl.

"I will give you a bad time."

Back in the TARDIS, the hat rack had been completely emptied. The ancient astrakhan that had been lying there for what was safe to say quite a while finally collapsed in on itself. The Panama hat with the multicoloured band was too tacky, and the other one with the red band was far too plain. Away they went. The fez just fell off and looked stupid. The fedora, however…

"Looks brilliant." said the Doctor with a hint of laughter in his voice.

"And of course, the Great Papyrus does not wear any hat without a jaunty tilt!"-...


	2. WhoTale: Intergalactic Masquerade

"So the story of how I got here is…complicated. See, I was trying to get the ship to land in 40th century New York, but…something went wrong. The walls of your dimension are so thin from all the resetting everyone's been doing, my TARDIS was able to pass through. Not easily, mind you, but still-"

The TARDIS lurched to one side- the Doctor managed to stay hanging on to the console, but Papyrus went flying across the grated floor, almost sliding into the large chair on one side of the console.

"Yeah. Going from my dimension to yours felt like that. But a hundred times-"

CRASH. The TARDIS crossed from one dimension to the next, sparking eletrictity into the Time Vortex and rocking and turning. Neither of them could hold on that time, and they both went crashing to the ground.

"-worse!"

"So that's what you meant by unreliable!" exclaimed Papyrus over the noise of grinding metal. "Why haven't you fixed it, though?"

"It's more fun this way!"

The TARDIS abruptly stopped its convulsions, emitting a slow power-down noise. The both of them breathed a sigh of relief, and the Doctor practically ran to the white TARDIS doors and took a brief look outside. "Papyrus…" he said, slightly confused at the commotion outside, "Maybe you won't need a disguise after all. You may want a costume, however…"

Five minutes later, Papyrus came back out of the TARDIS wardrobe kitted out in a full Parisian costume, complete with ruffles. The only one he could find, he said. The Doctor secretly expected, from the pomp that he wore while strutting the 15th century suit, that he had wanted to dress up like this for quite a while… "It's some kind of social gathering…" the Doctor mentioned. "I delibrately chose the future, by the way. Trust me. You wouldn't want to see the reaction from people of the past to a walking skeleton." Papyrus seemed offended by this ("Well, that's just stupid!") and the Doctor honestly agreed ("Well, that's humanity for you. They had the same reaction to someone with a different skin tone.")

The TARDIS doors opened, and the Doctor and a very well dressed skeleton walked out. "But this is the 40th century. Things are a lot different now…."

A gigantic hall stood before them, filled with a sea of creatures from across the galaxy, most of them being humanoid, some as strange as the mind could conjure. At least one was swimming in a tank with wheels, some appeared to be human at the top but strangely rabbit-like at the bottom. All were dressed in lavish costumes from across time, some that the Doctor recognized, some based off of events that hadn't even happened yet. (If anyone asked, the Doctor thought, I based my outfit off the 21st century.) Beautiful music was playing in the background, and many were dancing a gentle waltz to it.

"You'll fit in perfectly!" explained the Doctor enthusiastically, while Papyrus quickly got lost in the crowd, the Doctor following close behind: he was already forgetting the first rule of being with the Doctor: don't wander off. Why did none of his companions get it?...Was it something about humans? No, that didn't work anymore. Was it just something about the universe in general?!

The Doctor gravitated them both towards the space windows, which reached the floor and displayed a huge variety of planets, but without warning, he was nearly knocked over with a heavy boot. "Hey, watch it!" he yelled, peering upwards at his attacker, who was at this point rapidly lowering to the ground with silken wings, muttering "Sorry, so sorry! I should watch where I'm going!" in a buzzing tone. The Doctor helped himself to his feet, but the creature was still spouting an apology: "I only just got these implants done, I'm very clumsy with the whole flying buisness-" Papyrus quickly noticed what the cute fairy-like woman dressed in Tudor attire was chattering on about -"Wait! You mean…you can get wings in the 40th century?! And you're still a human!" and the lady turned and tittered quietly:

"Well, maybe they're not available on your planet yet, but they're rather cheap here! They're hoping it to adapt it to other races too, it's all the rage!", squeaked a little, and flew away.

"Is she supposed to think I'm an alien?" Papyrus asked, trying to suppress laughter.

"Yep. More specifically, she thinks you're one of the Ajaxian species. Humanoid skeletons, adapted to live on the small ice planet of Exor 3…"

"Ice planet?..." 

"Ironic, isn't it?...though…you know what's weird? That accent. I mean, she's clearly a human, but something must have been put there to make her sounds almost insect-like. And not being racist towards any insect races, I don't think any human would want an accent like that." the Doctor mused, standing before the planets.

Papyrus said nothing at all. He just leant against the glass, watching the meteorites fly past and the planets slowly spin.

"D'ya like it?"

"I love it! Is this what the sky looks like on Earth as well?..."

"Nah. Happened once though. Twenty planets appeared in the sky. Everyone came out to watch, but they were all terrified. Goes to show something. Then again, I understand if it was cos' of what happened next."

"…What did happen next?"

"That's for later."

There was a pause, which for once wasn't awkward.

"You know…" mentioned Papyrus, "You're kind of like my brother! Except, not as lazy!" Papyrus couldn't keep a laugh down, and neither could the Doctor, laughing at such an accurate comparison. "I mean, you're both so mysterious!...Maybe that's why I…ah…wanted to be friends, instead of capturing you…"

The Doctor smiled back at him, trying to let him know there was nothing to be nervous about. Imagine if Undyne could see you now, he thought.

The two of them just stood there, contemplating their situation. At one point, a small shuttle flew straight past the window, appearing as if it was grazing the glass itself. The Doctor looked around a couple of times, trying to assess the situation. He gathered that they were in a party celebrating…the anniversary of the first discovery of intelligent life on other planets by Earth!...how appropriate, he thought, with all the strange alien creatures here...

This was quite a jump, he thought, from showing your companion the end of their own planet as their first taste of the TARDIS life.

"Speaking of friends…have you had many before?" mentioned Papyrus, gazing out into space, counting the stars silently.

"Oh, quite a few." the Doctor replied. "Companions, I call 'em."

"So, I'm definitely not the first, then!..."

"Nah. But, granted, you're the first to be a literal skeleton. Most of mine are just humans. Tempremental humans, strange humans. Fascinating humans."

"You talk like you're not really human yourself, Doctor. You know, you're quite like monsters in general!"

"Well- you know why I kept chuckling every time you gave me that nickname of human? It's cause…I'm not technically human…"

"You're playing a prank on me!...prove it, Doctor!" – Papyrus pointed at him, challenging him. The Doctor fished a stethoscope (always be prepared to prove it!) out of his many pockets, and handed it to him. "Well, the fact that I've created a time machine should be proof enough, but go on. Both sides, too."

Papyrus pressed the stethoscope to his chest, studying his heartbeats. He was amazed to find that wherever he placed it, he heard a distinct, slow heartbeat.

"…Either you've got a very big heart, or two little ones…! You're right, Doctor! How could I have been wrong about you all this time?!" Papyrus gasped, checking the stethoscope for some kind of trick.

"Don't worry. Everyone makes that mistake at first. And also, no-one's actually made the assumption that I've got an extra large heart before…oh, right."

The two of them smiled at each other, and Papyrus laughed as he realised that he'd just accidentally given the Doctor a compliment.

Funny, he thought. Not long ago he was your adversary, his opponent, he was the theatrical villain and he was the hero to be captured, he mused. Now here he was in what might be a better future than being in the Royal Guard. From what the Doctor had told him, his buisness was solving the mysteries of space and time, and he, The Great Papyrus, could ride with him.

The Doctor stared out at the party. Interesting, he thought. He should take in male companions more often. Several times he'd developed romantic relationships with his companions, and that never ended well. He just wanted a mate, not someone that would immediately misinterpret it as wanting 'to mate.'

It seemed like a perfect first trip so far, the Doctor mused, but the calmest quiets always foreshadowed the most dangerous of storms…he watched the party, ready for anything that followed him to this seemingly perfect occasion.

But the more the Doctor looked at the party, the more it seemed….that the party was not as alien as it looked. It made no sense for an alien race completely unrelated to the event to attend. The partygoers were almost entirely human, as he realised, looking left and right, that was a human, that was a human, that was still a human. They'd just modified themselves. Modified themselves when they didn't even have to. Sometimes almost beyond recognition.

Hopefully they didn't go the way the Mondasians did, he thought, dread in his heart.

Papyrus, however, had much different things on his mind, namely finding a suitable dance parter- he had a huge bucket list of the things he'd learn to do once he reached the surface, and one of them was learning to dance. He picked out at random the unusual lady with rabbit legs and rabbit ears- some kind of obscure and dirty joke Papyrus hopefully wouldn't get, the Doctor thought- and tried to ask her for a dance as silently as possible.

She winked, took Papyrus' gigantic glove and began bounding higher and higher into what most definitely wasn't a waltz- Papyrus almost couldn't keep up, but no! he was thinking! I can still do this! The Great Papyrus can't fail at any-

The Great Papyrus fell straight to the ground, dropped by his dance parter. His homemade armor clattering on the tiles, he instincitvely shut his eyes. The whole hall fell silent, except for the alien-like waltz music playing in the background. Papyrus shook himself back to his senses, and opened his eyes to see the entire crowd blocking their ears as the very world seemed to shake with sound waves.

"DOCTOR? WHAT ON EARTH'S GOING ON!?"

"Captain. We have an new process running on the main ship computer."

"Check it. Report back."

"It says it's part of the automatic PA program. It should be fine."

"Good. Over- NO! NO! AAAAGH-

The audio cut out, and the two pilots fell to the floor, the white noise invading their minds. But one pilot- the one with abnormally strong legs- felt something different. A battle cry.

After what seemed like forever, the pounding white noise abruptly stopped playing from the speakers. People were lying on the seats still blocking their ears, some were even crying, some were already yelling for an explanation from the crew. Papyrus and The Doctor staggered over to the loudspeakers, Papyrus shaken by the noise that had bombarded him. ("That…was unexpected…Doctor, what do you think that was?..."), but the Doctor was already inspecting the loudspeaker itself, checking it for any sign of internal control, ("That's what I'm trying to find out…")

It suddenly occurred to him that…people were still in pain. He whipped around to see the majority of the party goers still clutching their heads. Manipulation on the mind and pain via sound waves: the only creatures he knew capable of that were…the Daleks. The Doctor shuddered at the thought, but then realised something crucial: neither him nor Papyrus, or any other alien species on the ship were being affected in the same way, only the hybrid humans…

And then the crowd went dead silent. It was like a DVD had been unpaused, and the party appeared to go completely back to normal. No-one made any mention of the deafening noise, no-one even made a complaint to the control room. The room was strangely nonchalant about the situation. "Mind manipulation." explained the Doctor. "Someone's rigged the party."

The Doctor turned to Papyrus, showing a broad and excited grin. "What say we investigate?" Papyrus tipped his dusty fedora and winked. "That's why I joined you, wasn't it? Adventure!" he exclaimed, running with the Doctor out of the party hall, knocking over a large cake.

The spaceship was like a floating labyrinth, dotted with doors, kitchens, chandeliers with flames that burned without a candle, the Doctor's mind was racing for a solution, but not for long: "If I'm right, the crew will have no idea what just happened. We need to convince them of what their loudspeakers were playing, tell them to play back the security camera footage." "Got it!" replied Papyrus, running far ahead, and ducking towards the stairs.

Ten minutes later, they were standing outside the captain's cockpit, trying in vain to explain what happened to everyone in the party through a door, on the verge of being told to angrily go away. "Just look back through the security footage!" yelled the Doctor through the outside the door transmission system. "The whole party went mad! I got dropped by my own dance partner!" Papyrus continued, getting as close to the speaker as he could. There was a pause.

"Ohhh. Oh my god. It's the Doctor, isn't it? Come in. Do you have an explanation?"

The Doctor and Papyrus walked into the cockpit. The one pilot that had been talking to him walked up to the entrance, eyes still fixed on the mysterious footage. Suddenly, the Doctor noticed something incredibly unsettling about this pilot's legs: they matched something he definitely didn't want them to match.

The legs of a Sontaran. They'd augmented themselves with their greatest enemy for the mere sake of strength. It was hard for his face not to twist into rage.

"So then, what do you think caused the massive hysteria, since you seem to be such an expert on it?" the pilot asked, with no idea what annoyed the Doctor so much. "Also, we're only allowing you in here because we want more information about the complaint. Can your friend wait outside?" Papyrus quietly left the pilot's cockpit, putting his ear to the door…

"What's been happening is that some sound wave came straight out of the PA system and pretty much turned the entire party into chaos. I think you might have been sent some kind of sound virus." the Doctor explained, waving his hands around, trying to sound as convincing as possible.

They both argued for quite some time, the pilot trying to call it off as all a trick, the Doctor shrugging him off as being ignorant, trying to explain the power of sound waves, until, finally, a good five minutes after they had started a reasonable conversation, the talk took a strange turn.

"Are you looking at my legs, mate?" the pilot snapped, catching the Doctor staring at his muscly, orange-tinted legs.

"Well, yes, they're very interesting, but anyway, back on what I was saying-"

"I've had enough of people staring at these things, alright? I'm at the end of my tether and it's just being plain racist! Sontaran's legs are the strongest in the galaxy for fighting, I'll have you know!"

"Fighting?..." the Doctor had a terrifying hunch- "Also, how did you know my name was the Doctor?..."

"I just…I just…I don't know. I don't know, Doctor."

The Doctor was stepping backwards now; all the major alien species that he had fought were trained to recognize him by his name and voice. That and…should he run?...he wondered…

"I'm sorry, Doctor. I don't know…what came over me…"

"No, no. It's fine. You alright?"

"No, Doctor. I've got this…pounding. It's probably just a headache, but it's got words…"

"…what are those words?..."

"S-sontar. Sontar-ha. Sontar-ha!"

"Oh my god…" the Doctor turned to the door.

"Sontar-ha! SONTAR-HA!"

The pilot was now raving, the other crew members turning to watch him now, attempting to restrain him, but something was giving him strength enough to break free and march after the Doctor. The Doctor dashed straight out the door, pinning Papyrus against the wall- he followed on behind, glancing behind at- a human?! After finding out the truth about the Doctor, he wasn't sure what was a human and what wasn't- but he couldn't help asking the obvious question:

"What did you do to make him mad?" he gasped, running faster than ever before.

"He's not mad! He's just acting like something he's not!" the Doctor replied, ducking into a side corridor.

"It's like a masquerade!" Papyrus realised. "Then again, what's he masquerading as?..."

There was no time for an answer as the both of them reached the bottom floor where they'd started- and all around them, there was still more chaos. Some guests were acting like some of the aliens from across the universe that the Doctor had met- he could recognize it instantly, and in that moment, he realised exactly what was going on.

Everyone was masquerading as the aliens they had augmented themselves with. It wasn't just the pilot. Everyone with stolen DNA, from any alien species was affected.

Every party I go to turns sour, doesn't it?, he thought.

The pair stood in the middle of the hall, watching the commotion of growls and snarls. It was…terrible to watch. The cake they had knocked over on their way out was gone completely, only crumbs in its place. The windows were scratched, the PA system was only strands of wire and already, several fights had broken out in the hall.

"That's my dance partner…right?..." Papyrus whispered, hoping not to make himself known to the savage crowd. The rabbit lady was chewing on a plastic plant, trying in vain to make it her next meal. "It's not really her." mused the Doctor, studying her movements and concluding that the change was pretty much total.

Footsteps.

Papyrus and the Doctor turned suddenly. Someone was already standing behind them, and their minds simultaneously raced for a moment: friend or foe?

"Please. You have to come with us!"

The lounge lay in disrepair. Once reserved for those of the highest stature, it was now stained, scratched, and overturned. A number of other hybrids sat among the broken tables and couches, talking about plans for their rescue. The Doctor and Papyrus were led hurriedly into the room- the door was locked behind them.

"I'm so glad I managed to reach you both in time!..." the lady who had escorted to them to the little base. "The ship's gone mad." she continued, turning to her colleague. The Doctor noticed her humanity- she seemed unchanged. Papyrus looked over the crowd, noticing that nearly all of them were human or near human…

"We're hiding out here until rescue comes. I'm sure you understand what's going on: everyone with the alien implants is acting strangely savage. I'm one of the few that wasn't affected." the lady explained, "Oh. My name is Alaya Delta Twelve. I am currently leader of the group that's hiding out here. And you are?..."

"The Doctor." said the Doctor, smiling. "The Great Papyrus!" Papyrus continued, tipping his fedora, which seemed awfully out of place on his French costume. The two of them sat down with the rest of the humans, who gladly gave them advice and hospitality. If only humans were always like this. Then quite a few of the conflicts he'd solved wouldn't have needed his intervention. Strange, he thought, that humans became so altruistic and accepting only in the darkest of times.

Pots clattered in the lounge kitchen as someone prepared some emergency food they'd found, including, of course, instant noodles. Papyrus walked straight over to the kitchen bar, sampling some mints on the way, and immediately asked for the "Spaghetti! Wait, the noodles…" The temporary bartender gave him a small paper plate (all she could find.) piled on the chicken-flavoured noodles, and started a small conversation. "So, I assume you're Ajaxan? You've got quite an avante-guarde name…Papyrus." she mentioned in an on-the-side way.

"Avante-guarde? Well…I wouldn't consider it that avante…guarde, I think it's rather…cool! Yes, we'll go with that! Cool!" Papyrus replied, acting as flirtatious as he could.

"How interesting. Oh! By the way. I don't mean to be rude or anything, but you may want to take the fancy dress off…"

"Oh…why?"

"It's really hard to run in…"

The entire group froze in place. Everyone could hear the clanging in the vents- one of the 'rabid' ones had gotten in.

"Should we run?"

CLASH. The grate tumbled to the ground, ripped from its grating by human fingers, and a fully grown man, sporting the magnificent crest of a Type III Alfosaur and shrieking like one too. Everyone was silent as he fell onto the kitchen floor, grimacing. Finally, Alaya stepped forward.

"Out." she snapped, pointing at the door, a tremble in her voice. She attempted to slowly guide the man out of the room, but it seemed there was a tiny slither of human consciousness still there…he took offense.

Snarling, he grabbed Alaya, struggling to keep her down as she immediately started kicking and screaming for the help of her fellow refugees. Papyrus, The Doctor and everyone else in the lounge attempted to separate the two, but all it took was ONE moment, not even a second, of everyone almost letting go at the same sychronized time, for the raptor-man to leap back up into the pipe, dragging Alaya with him.

The hall broke into chaos once again. Instantaneously, everyone began arguing over where the raptor-man was going to take Alaya. Everyone concluded that they should all follow him up the pipe, and soon the strongest of the ship refugees were piling all sorts of furniture below the hole. Papyrus was debating whether to join them or not, as was the Doctor. The Doctor, noticed, worry growing, that some of them were taking weapons stored behind the bar counter with them. Gone was the hospitality. What a way to teach someone about humanity…

"I think it would be wise to go through this ship with a bit of protection, at least until we get to the captain's cockpit. There we can stop the ultrasound signal that I found while you were having your little chat with the bartender…" explained the Doctor, clambering through the air duct, Papyrus following close behind. The duct was only just wide enough for the refugee gang, and Papyrus' battle body gained quite a few dents and scratches. "The initial sound blast must have temporarily wiped their minds, and the ultrasound signal is using the DNA they had to implant into themselves to even use the body parts to control them like a remote. Question is…who's controlling them?"

Finally, light through a grate echoed through the tunnel. You could almost hear the sigh of relief, as the deputy leader, Alcaan Delta, forced the piece of metal to drop to the ground with a clatter. As the Doctor and Papyrus fell to the ground: they were in a staff kitchen, surprisingly enough, Papyrus mentioned why the Doctor couldn't just sonic the PA system. "I think sonic devices have become prominent in the 40th century…probably my fault. All sorts of people were doing pranks on PA systems, so they're designed against it…"

Footprints, the crowd echoed. The group followed the dirty prints of the man-raptor out of the kitchen, the Doctor and Papyrus following on behind them. I don't like the way this is going, thought the Doctor, staring at the crowd. It was like they were following a lynch mob…

Several doors later, the group of refugees began to split up as the footprints faded. One group left for the hall to see if the raptor-man had gone to where the rest of the primitives were, the other group left for the left. Papyrus had noticed something, though. That unique screech the raptor-man made- he could hear it again, echoing up the corridor to the right. He decided to point it out- perhaps this was his chance to be a leader, perhaps even a hero! "You guys! The last group! I think that the rest of them are going on a wild goose chase. I just heard the…one who got Alaya down that corridor! Come on, I'll lead you!" As they had no-one else to listen to, everyone began following Papyrus down the corridor. The Doctor, however, had something different on his mind. He'd just seen an easy route to the captain's office, and he didn't intend to pass up the opportunity. After organizing an area for Papyrus and the Doctor to meet after he'd fixed the problem, the two of them went their separate ways.

The Doctor was alone once again, but if his companion wanted to be a leader, then he could. Papyrus seemed to be quite charismatic, and the Doctor chuckled as he thought that maybe he didn't need to be in the Royal Guard to be popular. Never mind that though, he thought. He had places to be, but as he looked for where this entrance was- how annoying that he'd come a different way, he was thinking, when he realised something mid-thought. His sonic screwdriver could drown out the noise of the PA system. Could it work?...he mused, fiddling with the sonic screwdriver in his pocket.

The rest of the corridor appeared to be empty…even the captain's cabin, the Doctor realised something again, much much worse this time. The cabin was empty. With no idea who they were or what their duties were, the crew members couldn't operate the space shuttle. The Doctor dashed straight into the control room and was horrified to see several warning signals, all saying that the ship was overheating. Several switches had been seemingly pulled at random as the crew had transformed into the mindset of another race. If he could turn off the PA system now, the entire ship would be back to normal, but would the crew be able to get back in time? He couldn't operate the whole ship by himself- the cockpit had clearly been designed to prevent such a thing: hijacking must have grown in popularity again. The only solution, he realised, was to shut the PA system off completely, send out an emergency signal to the TV system instead, calling the captains to the cockpit.

But, first, to investigate the cause. One of the screens actually had Task Manager left on it- the last thing they opened before the masquerade started. There was an unknown process running- it had opened at the precise time that everyone began masquerading. He looked deeper into the process, trying to determine who had started the process. It said it was a child program- so he looked into the PA program everyone trusted, and lo and behold, the starter of the program didn't match any of the users- instead it simply said the origin was the ship itself. A trick, the Doctor thought. None of the other programs were operated by the ship. With a little more messing around, the actual user that started the faulty PA program was – 000. That matched no computer code he'd ever seen, nor any person he'd met.

Someone else had started a process that nearly killed, or perhaps even did kill, several passengers. That was when the process ended. By itself.

"No." gasped the Doctor, jumping back from the screen.

Everyone woke up from their trance, and the Doctor patrolled over to the TV system, but as he went over, he noticed something. One of the ship's boilers was ready to blow, as he could see from the various charts…but that boiler room contained something else.

The group led by Papyrus.

The Doctor ran from the control room.

Silvius Blaine with the dinosaur crest lay in the boiler room. He had been knocked out, thrown against the wall, and there was a trickle of blood down his chin.

Papyrus could have only watched as the lynch mob grabbed Alaya off of the hands of her assailant just as he was about to take the first bite, and rough him about more ruthlessly than he had ever done to any of them. Papyrus had been pushed to the back of the group, wondering what kind of alien Alcaan had spliced himself with to become so ruthless.

He couldn't watch it anymore.

As Alcaan was about to deal the final blow on Silvius, Papyrus pushed his way through the crowd and cast a bone towards Alcaan, knocking him sideways and forcing him to drop his gun.

And that was when the PA system cut out.

Alcaan was amazed at where he was: lying on the floor, gun beside him, a heavy bruise from a bone thrown at him. He stared at Papyrus in disbelief, finally managed to gasp "How?...Ajaxans can't do that…"

Papyrus thought it might well be time to tell the truth, before it got taken too far. "I confess! I am not Ajaxan, as many of you suspected. I am a monster from an alternate Planet Earth. Thus, I am not an alien as many of you thought, but an…Earth-lien! I hope you don't mind. We'll probably never see each other again, but I thought I might tell the truth before it got taken too far."

The group stood in silence. How strange, they thought. One person thought to ask him something.

"Where's your ticket?"

"T-ticket?"

"He's a stowaway! Probably along with that Doctor guy, too!"

Suddenly, Papyrus heard somebody running above him on a balcony. He was beckoning for him to run, pointing below him at the heat waves emanating from the steam below him. He got the impression that it wasn't just him that was in danger.

"Um…well! That's…interesting for you! My friend up there's telling us to run. Just look down there…" continued Papyrus, looking at the suspicious gang.

"We should probably get the captain involved. He assaulted me as well, you know!" shouted Alcaan.

Papyrus pushed through the gang and ran, the Doctor running with him up above. Several people tried to grab his cape, but he managed to pull free with a duck and a dive, one eye on his escape, one eye on the Doctor. He dashed out of the boiler room, the Doctor in hot pursuit. Papyrus crashed through double doors, the Doctor slid down the stairs, the two of them met at the bottom of the stairwell, and the Doctor began leading the way to the TARDIS. But someone was following them. Alcaan was telling a security guard about the two stowaways and they were already running after them to detain them. Papyrus, now knowing everyone knew his secret, cast the fabled Blue Attack, knocking the guards over against the stairs, but they wouldn't give up, they couldn't give up. Suddenly- the boiler room they'd run from emanated a blast of heat, knocking everybody over, frightening everyone.

As they ran into the now screaming hall, security guards on all sides rushed to the pair, but the TARDIS doors welcomed its tennants too quickly. Papyrus and the Doctor collapsed onto the control panel and the door shut behind them. The Doctor locked the door immediately, leaning against it as the guards attempted to break in. The TARDIS started dematerializing, to the surprise of all the guests, who stepped back for fear of being caught in the windstorm that always appeared when the TARDIS disappeared.

Papyrus stared at the rising and falling time column, trying not to lean on any vital keys. After puffing and panting for what seemed to be quite a while, he turned to the Doctor. "It's a pity we can't go back, you know. Do you ever take credit for the things you do?"

The Doctor lightly smiled. Yes. Papyrus was the kind of companion who'd go up to a loudspeaker and tell the world he and the Doctor saved it. "Well, I never do blow my own trumpet. Might change history, y'know? And don't you try declaring to the world what we've done!"

Papyrus was, admittedly, slightly disappointed, but, then again, did he really want his name plastered throughout history- wait, wait. He remembered something someone had taught him in secondary school…

"Speaking of changing history…you know there's that Egyptian paper called papyrus?..."

"Yes?..."

"Will that be my fault?"

"You can never be sure…" the Doctor replied, as the TARDIS tumbled through the time vortex, "You can never be sure."


	3. WhoTale: The Afterlife Construct

"Well, if you really want to see how papyrus actually got its name, then…take this." the Doctor explained, fishing a TARDIS key out of his pocket, and placing it in Papyrus' scarlet glove.

"So…you give this to all your companions? Cool! I'm officially a companion now!" Papyrus replied, hanging the key around his neck, and inspecting it like a rare fossil. Like everything else he'd seen so far, it wasn't like any key he'd ever seen. Intricate and deceptive-looking, it seemed to be hiding something. What Papyrus didn't know yet was that what they key was hiding was Papyrus himself…

"That's got a perception filter inside it. People won't realise you're there. It's tuned itself into a psychic network of some sort, most likely that of the TARDIS, so we can actually hide your entire body." the Doctor continued, setting the

co-ordinates of the TARDIS to somewhere Papyrus had always wanted to go.

Ancient Egypt.

Where else?

The Doctor lay back on the TARDIS console, musing his decision to take Papyrus to the time of the pyramids, the desert, and papyrus paper. Most of his companions he had to keep an eye out for to stop them changing history, whether it was for better or worse. He could respect a stubborn intention to save the people of Pompeii from the eruption of Vesuvius, but he could tell that Papyrus intended to at least, maybe, do something like carve 'Papyrus was here' into the Great Pyramid. Wait, no. Papyrus- the paper- was inside the Egyptian pyramids. He'd be leaving a clue for archeologists. Still! Changing history can never do any good. Again, he checked that the perception filter was in fact functional. Yes, it was. Papyrus had gained a slight shimmer.

Papyrus was out the doors almost as soon as the TARDIS landed, and was hit by a wave of sand in his face. Instictively, he held up his red scarf to his jaw and pulled his fedora down so it nearly covered his eyes. The Doctor walked outside with him to evaluate where they were…

A small village on the side of Cairo, he concluded. Beautiful, he thought, staring at the rippling waters of the Nile, accented by the odd little sandblast, disturbed occaisonally by the odd hippo, fish, or crocodile. Papyrus glanced around him, his eye caught by the work-in-progress Great Pyramid. Workers like ants crawled all over it, hauling blocks of stone upwards and upwards…this isn't how I imagined it, he thought. He thought it was…sepia-toned somewhat. It's so colorful, full of life in a dusty desert…

The Doctor glanced around: the TARDIS was hidden deep within a stand of trees, beside the river Nile. Hopefully, he thought, no-one would find it, even if the town wasn't too far away. Leading Papyrus with him, they slunk through the trees towards the mud huts.

"Alright, some rules first. People can't see you, but they can still hear you. As soon as someone properly notices something they can't see, they can't unsee it. Especially if it's a humanoid skeleton. Also, don't take the TARDIS key off. And last rule. Stick by me. Don't wander off."

Papyrus nodded, playing with the TARDIS key in his hand, trying to understand why a simple key could hide him from everyone…

The town seemed…dead. The Doctor knew why…every fit male had been called up to serve at the pyramids. Only the widows-for-now and the nonchalant children stayed, playing in the streets, some watching the Pyramids being constructed, bit by bit. To him, it represented the best and worst of humanity. Bloody single-mindedness and the overwhelming system of hierachy, and the imagination to view a pyramid as so much more than a triangular construct.

The two of them stared at the pyramid for quite a long time, Papyrus contemplating how long it must have taken everyone to work for something that he'd learned to look quite unimpressive. Someone glanced over at them, and uttered a faint 'hello' to the stranger he could see. The Doctor turned around, seeing a woman standing behind him- not noticing the elephant, or rather skeleton, in the room, the Doctor noticed with relief.

"You're new here. Have you come to pick up new pyramid workers?" the woman inquired, still confused at the stranger's dress sense. Papyrus was amazed, as he remembered that the Egyptians definitely didn't speak English. Their accent was still there, though…

"No. I- I'm just visiting." the Doctor answered, glancing towards the mud huts, flanked by trees and the papyrus reed. The village seemed prosperous, and happy despite being so deserted.

The woman walked away to attend to her children, after nodding and glancing him an approving look. Her children were being amused by a wooden lion toy, which snapped its jaws at the pull of a string. History always looked so innocent at first glance, thought the Doctor. He gave a 'good job so far' look to Papyrus, and walked on through the village, scaring chickens. "How…how is she speaking English?" Papyrus whispered, when the lady was far away. The Doctor stepped into a back street and explained, "The TARDIS is translating for us. Even our speech is being translated!" Papyrus looked still more amazed. "Pretty amazing, isn't it?" the Doctor continued, walking forward.

Papyrus was pleased at how easy-going everybody seemed. The Doctor had told him that the TARDIS life was dangerous, but…it didn't seem to be getting at him yet. All the danger he'd been in so far had been…partially, very partially, his fault. Well, of course it could be expected! He'd just gotten into the TARDIS! But if he got used to it, maybe he could just be travelling, seeing things he'd never seen.

The streets practically invited them into the calming town. The houses were primitive, and built out of mud, but they still looked almost pretty in the setting- sand swirling in the streets, sun beating down. The Doctor was forced to block the scene out with his squinting, though. Where was he, though? The town square, wasn't it? He could see a market nearby, filled with signs translated into perfect English, as he'd expected. Papyrus ran ever so slightly ahead, inspecting the goods: most of them were wooden trinkets. Wooden, but intricate as everything else. The Doctor inspected them as well, the shopkeeper with a careful and suspicious eye on him.

Suddenly, a trinket was knocked off of the table with a clatter on wood. Papyrus began to bend down to pick it up, the Doctor stopped him immediately and picked up the trinket himself, trying to distract the shopkeeper with spiel and apologies as much as possible. Papyrus had nearly been revealed, and it would have been so easy. The Doctor led Papyrus immediately away from the shop.

"It's easier than you think to break the effect of a perception filter." the Doctor mentioned, a hint of obvious seriousness in his voice.

"You're just being nervous!..." Papyrus retorted, glancing back at the shop.

"Look, if people see you, it'll change history forever! Best case scenario, we'll be thrown to the crocodiles. Worst case scenario, they'll believe it's the end of the world." the Doctor continued, glancing towards the river.

"Crocodiles?" Papyrus replied, a tiny hint of fear in his voice.

The Doctor turned to look at the river again, and immediately noticing a crowd there. One of the fetcher boats had come by, hoping for a second round. Obviously the pharaoh was getting desperate, the Doctor realised. Almost the whole town was standing around the boat, including a few men, who quickly melted into the crowd, seemingly happy to serve the king of Egypt.

Funny, the Doctor thought. Everyone thought that the workers were dragged out of their homes screaming, but no. It was either well-paid work, or very well designed ancient propaganda.

Papyrus stayed back from the crowd, watching from a distance, glancing throughout the river-beach. The black mud looked beautifully fertile, but he noticed that there was something down the bank that seemed awfully out of place. He grabbed the Doctor's hand, and beckoned towards the thing he'd seen. The Doctor began following him, rustling through the long Nile grass, which bent sideways on a very straight angle, being a stiff reed. Papyrus whispered to the Doctor, pointing to something sticking out of the mud…

The Doctor fished the object out of the bank. Most of the mud fell straight off, but it needed a bit of dusting before it fully revealed itself.

"Ohhhh."

It was a wooden pyramid. A cross-section, the Doctor could clearly see the hollowed out pharaoh's tomb, the many different traps. It was an construction model, thrown out onto the river mud. And not just any construction model.

"It's the Great Pyramid…"

The Doctor's mind was racing again- he loved that feeling in the right circumstances- and so many things connected. The real model can't have been thrown out because it would have needed to be used constantly throughout construction, and as he looked at it more and more he noticed subtle changes: a new chamber here and there, something that definitely wasn't in the model he knew (he'd been inside the Pyramid before, many times!) so, it must have been-

"It's some sort of…beta model…"

Papyrus and the Doctor walked out from the crowd, and sat back down by the first house they'd seen, staring at the wooden model, trying to find out as much as possible about the mysterious model. Both of them were silent, but their looks to each other betrayed their feelings- confusion, amazement.

"So…maybe we should bring it back, or possibly leave it somewhere all those …ah…archeologists! Yes! …Where they'll find it?" asked Papyrus, keeping his voice low.

"Maybe, maybe. Won't be changing too much of actual history…I mean, if we just chucked it in the Nile, they'd probably find it anyway, somehow. They're great, y'know? But, yeah. I'll grant you that just this once. But no other kind of meddling!" the Doctor replied, still inspecting the model. Suddenly, something caught his eye.

"Ohh, look…two new things I've just noticed. A piece of glass in that big…soul-chute thing…and a signature!..."

"Well, if he chucked it here, then obviously he lives here! Shall we go find him?" Papyrus inquired, excited once again.

"Yeah…ask him maybe why he put all this glass here. The chute was empty for a reason…and why'd they change it? I mean, just asking can't do any bad. It's just stating again what's already been said to someone else." the Doctor answered, getting up from his seat, slipping a little on the sands.

"Let's get to know the neighbours a bit, shall we?"

It took most of the morning in the blazing heat to find Imhotep…he lived on the edge of the town. They'd asked everyone in the town where this architect lived. The Doctor was wondering why the structure had been rejected…after all, if he'd been a real architect, then the spaces in the stone had to have been carefully calculated, thus saving so much manwork and stonecutting. He was the Doctor. He was the one that solved the mysteries, wasn't he?...

That was what his people had done. All he could do was continue their duty.

The Doctor walked towards the open door of Imhotep's house, debating how to make his entrance. No door, no knocking on, he thought, reaching his hand towards the side of the empty space in place of the door. He tapped on the side of the mud brick…it took a long time for Imhotep to answer.

"Who is that?"

"Menes." the Doctor replied…he felt quite proud of that. Menes literally meant unknown…fitting.

"What do you come to me for?"

"Well, Menes…I found this."

The Doctor stuck the wooden model straight through the non-existent window, and he could almost feel Imhotep's amazement.

"Do…do you wish to know what it is?..."

"Yes, I'm quite interested in it!..."

"Wonderful! Come in! Come in!"

The Doctor walked into Imhotep's mud house, gazing around at the wood shavings on the ground, the ancient knives…he was…quite a busy man. In fact, it seemed he was quite dedicated to the pyramid- he could see at least one lying on the ground.

"So, what do you want to know about the model?...since I have no part in the construction anymore. I do not know about the construction now. I am glad you are interested in it!..." said Imhotep, handling the model as the Doctor handed it to him gladly. "It was rejected, sadly…"

"Oh…yeah. So basically…what's with the piece of glass? That's what I'm wondering, mainly." the Doctor replied, inspecting with him.

"It's…complicated."

"Oh, I'm good with complicated."

"You are qualified in architecture?"

"I'm qualified in many, many things."

Imhotep began to explain to the Doctor the purpose of the piece of glass…his explanation began to entrance him. Talks of the gods, the heavens, and its purpose. All of it was told like a story being told to a child. It fascinated him, how humans were able to take something as simple as the movement of a star and transform it into a tale that lasts a thousand years.

"So. That's pretty interesting, then. I'm just visiting the village for a day. Nice to talk to you!" the Doctor said, at the end of the explanation.

"The people building the pyramid did not like it very much. I am very glad you enjoy its intricacies, Menes!" Imhotep continued, almost stroking the construction model he made.

"I have a nickname, by the way. Just thought you'd like to know." the Doctor replied, turning to continue on his way. "The Doctor."

"The Doctor, then? Anyway, I've got to be off now-"

"M-Menes?...W-who is that?...At the w-window?..."

Papyrus had been looking into the window for the whole conversation. They met eyes, and Imhotep fell backwards against the wall.

"It's…a…skeleton! One from beyond the grave!-" he yelled, pointing a shaking finger at Papyrus, who ducked behind the wall. "Did it come in with us!?...How long has it been there?"

The Doctor debated for what seemed to be hours on what he should do. Imhotep was intelligent enough to see Papyrus, he realised immediately, but what should he do now?...honestly, he thought, it was a mistake bringing him to Ancient Egypt, a mistake! Then, he realised what his solution was. He could pull a Freedonia.

"Well…we're travellers. We come from…really far away." the Doctor explained, waving his hands around, trying his best to convince him…motioning subtly to Papyrus to maybe pop up, look friendly, look…generally human.

"I…" muttered Imhotep, staring at Papyrus, who was trying to seem as welcoming as possible. Smile and wave, he was thinking, smile and wave. Imhotep walked over to the window, and, in a moment of infinite suspense, he touched Papyrus' glove…just to make sure he was real. "Were you…dead…at any point?..."

"No?..." Papyrus replied, slightly nervous. This was the first…human he'd techically met. The Doctor was right. Humans were weird. "Imhotep, was it?...I'm Papyrus!" Imhotep gasped as he realised the connection. "The Great Papyrus!" he continued, letting his cape flow out behind him. "But…you bring the name of something unique to Egypt…and our language too!" Imhotep protested quietly.

"We come from strange places…well! Not that strange, really!" Papyrus replied, trying to act as charismatic as possible.

The three of them talked for a while- the travellers pleasantly surprised at how welcoming the Egyptians were, Imhotep amazed at how different the world was, the Doctor worried about what differences to history they may be creating if they stayed too long. They chattered about the pyramid, they chattered about the land they came from. Hopefully the conversation would be lost to time, the Doctor thought. But the more Imhotep talked about the pyramid he'd designed…the more it seemed…off. For one, Imhotep talked with incredible enthusiasm about his creation. Normally, architects kept to themselves, but…maybe the rejection of the plan made him desperate for some attention to his project. And secondly…the plans for the pyramid and more specifically, its purpose. It was a very…avante-guarde pyramid, with a new purpose. A purpose of literal resurrection, rather than spiritual.

"Imhotep…you planned to resurrect the Pharaoh?" the Doctor asked, leaning closer to the model.

"Y-yes." Imhotep answered, hiding his face. "I regret it now. I should not have tried."

"No harm ever comes of trying." the Doctor replied, giving Imhotep a friendly smile. Papyrus seemed confused: "So why did they reject it if it could have brought the king back to life?..."

"It seemed ludicrous. I never tested my idea. It was rejected in the first few minutes of the pharaoh seeing it. I lost hope. But, you give me back hope. I decided now to test it tonight…tonight is the only night it would work. I threw out the plan so I could forget, but now, I can regain my hopes." replied Imhotep, smiling. Hope, the Doctor thought. The kind of hope that had echoed through the Underground.

The Doctor made his arrangements, goodbyes, and meet-agains, and left for the TARDIS, worry deep within his heart. Without knowing it, he'd just set up the stage for one of the greatest inventions in history. He didn't know how to stop it. He didn't particularly want to either. He'd just given a man hope and now he might have to tear it away to stop history changing forever.

They reluctantly continued on their way, but Papyrus managed to persuade the Doctor to stay a while. It wasn't that hard to convince him: the Doctor already had a reason to stay. He had to know the outcome of the experiment.

A few hours later of shopping, exploring and sitting around in the TARDIS, it was nighttime in Egypt.

"Oh, yeah! Should have asked this a long time ago. Do you lot have blood?" the Doctor asked, fumbling around in his bag.

"Don't…think so?..." replied Papyrus, staring out at the vista of the Nile.

"Good," the Doctor continued, spraying himself with a clear liquid, "you won't need mosquito repellent."

They stepped outside the TARDIS, the Doctor watching carefully for anyone hoping to discover the location of his ship. Suddenly, he saw something down the Nile, glittering…glittering with moonlight. He talked about that, didn't he? He was doing the experiment right now- Imhotep turned. The Doctor hid within some papyrus reed, Papyrus holding his cape close so as to not be seen.

Imhotep was holding the minature model, and he appeared to be…stuffing a frog inside it. Presumably dead. Then…he just left it there, simmering in the moon and star light.

The Doctor could hear a frog's croak. Imhotep began cheering, letting the frog swim back down the Nile, and running off further into the brush.

He couldn't hold it back any longer. The Doctor and Papyrus splashed through the shallower parts of the Nile river, yelling "IMHOTEP!" and running as fast as they could through the brush- Imhotep fled, the Doctor slowing down as he did so. Papyrus just stood there, wondering why he was so scared of them…he had already introduced himself to them, and…they seemed to like him.

The Doctor stood there, teeth clenched, despising himself for ruining such a perfect moment for that one man. He was being just like those that rejected him. Ignorant. Rigid. He didn't want to change history and was prepared to do anything to keep it on course.

Papyrus glanced back to Imhotep's house. "If he's going to resurrect someone…who's he going to bring back to life, do you think?" The Doctor looked back at the small mud hut.

"That house is too big for just one man…"

Papyrus froze as he realised what he meant.

If Imhotep was going to resurrect a loved one, who would be next? Someone would get to him and find the secret of bringing the dead back. The effect would snowball until the world's population problem was made dangerously apparent at least one thousand years early. He had to stop him…but…at what end?...

It would mean destroying his hopes.

It would mean destroying the world's only secret to resurrection.

It would mean sabotaging the resurrection experiment.

The Doctor watched the papyrus reeds closely, Papyrus watching with him, occaisonally trying to push them aside but stopping when they rustled too much. The Doctor finally decided to follow the path created by Imhotep as he made his escape. Following the gaps made in the reed, the pair of them rushed through tree and reed, mud and sand, the sound of quiet mosquitos in the air, the stars aligning, the moon rising, the Doctor seeing the signature light through the reeds he had seen once before heralding that their time was running out. At last they came out into the clearing where the Doctor beheld what was going to be the Great Pyramid of Giza. A small mud-brick structure, embedded in the ground, a narrow shaft cut into the pyramid, covered over by glass, but it wasn't just normal glass.

"We need to stop this, Papyrus. Just stay back there." the Doctor said, turning to Papyrus, part-way stepping out of the reeds.

"But…why?" Papyrus replied, glancing at the structure. Imhotep was gazing down the shaft with a look of both sadness and affection on his face.

"Because it'll change history, Papyrus. We've got to stop the experiment and sabotage it. Resurrection isn't supposed to happen. Especially not this early." the Doctor replied, stepping further and further out.

Imhotep stared at the stars. He appeared to be praying to the gods, specifically, Orisis. Something about forgiveness. Something about a new age.

The Doctor took the opportinity to kick a large chunk out of the pyramid. The bluish light suddenly stopped, and Imhotep turned to see the Doctor's face filled with sorrow and rage. It immediately faded to seeming indifference. Papyrus only watched in horror as the Doctor he knew destroyed a man's hopes for the sake of something that had already happened.

"D-Doctor?... Did you just?..." he stammered, stepping out into the now silent clearing. Had the Doctor…his Doctor…just kicked over Imhotep's life work?...like a bully with an innocent child's sandcastle? He couldn't quite believe it. He stepped back into the rushes. Imhotep noticed the light's absence , saw Menes, and immediately made the connection.

"How dare you…"

Imhotep stepped forward, taking a stand above the Doctor on his now imperfect pyramid. He had just lost the opportunity. This vindictive man…had talked to him. Comforted him. Told him he was worth more than just a failure.

And now he had ruined everything.

"How dare you, Menes."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. It…doesn't work." the Doctor said, monotone, but sorrow in his voice. It was the only way, he thought. The only way to set history back on course.

"Do you think yourself a god? Is that where you have travelled from?, the pantheon of the gods?"

"No." the Doctor replied.

Suddenly…the bluish light restarted. The Doctor had no will to stop it this time. He could only watch as a faint light emanated throughout the pyramid, forming itself into a shape. Imhotep seemed to recognize it, and walked slowly towards it, not believing what he was seeing. The Doctor's immediate thoughts were: why would the spirit still be summoned if the pyramid was imperfect?...Was the spirit supposed to reconnect with the body, or not?...

"My love." gasped Imhotep, trying to decide to embrace her or not. "I am so glad to have you back in this world."

"My stomach still feels as hollow as the day I left you…and I can feel your sorrow as well, just like it is my own." the spirit woman replied. "Must I stay for long?..."

"You must. We can live together again, as spirit and man."

"I see you cannot let me go. I am at risk of connecting myself to you, as a spirit without a body…in fact, I can already feel your rage…"

"For the traveller?"

"Yes. I do…I do not want to. I must leave."

"You cannot! I never forgave myself for my relaxed nature that winter."

"You blame yourself for something that is not your doing. Imhotep...I need to leave…it is nice of you to bring me back, but I must go back sometime…"

The spirit looked behind her…as she spoke, her legs began to be drawn into the grasses behind her, she looked panicked…

"Please leave…" she whispered.

Imhotep refused, but the woman dissolved into the grasses. He looked up, expecting to see her in the stars, smiling down at him, then…he turned to the Doctor, rage filling his face like never before. "I trusted you!" he said, teeth clenched. "I should have known that a man carrying with him the very symbol of death would bring me nothing but bad luck! She's gone, because of you!"

The Doctor heard a rustling in the grass behind him.

"I have a feeling she's not gone…"

The blackened body of a lion was padding slowly towards them. Posessing no mane, the Doctor immediately knew it was a female. Degraded and eaten away at by nature, it had clearly been there for a long time, just long enough to still be recognizable. Possessed, the Doctor thought. Possessed by Imhotep's wife.

"Is that…" Imhotep stammered, staring at the lion. "…my wife?..."

"Your wife's spirit in the lion's body." the Doctor specified, beginning to turn to run. The lion was advancing on them, stalking them like prey, twitching now and then, getting used to its new body.

"It's possessed the nearest empty body…" explained the Doctor. "But…why didn't it possess her own?..."

He peered into the pyramid…he could just see the body that was supposed to come back to life…except, there was a hole burned straight through. That was why, the Doctor concluded. The lion grew ever closer, inspecting Imhotep. It could feel its thoughts dulling like features in mist, its rage for the travellers and the skeleton transforming into its rage at simply being hungry. Its empty stomach, its racing brain, if it didn't fufill revenge, no, eat, it would die, the pain was too much.

"Nefertari?...Still, my love?...Are you there?"

It was too much. The lion, overcome by primal rage and instict, lunged for the Doctor. The Doctor stepped back, but his back hit the back of a large palm tree. Imhotep stood there, frozen. Even if his wife reincarnate were to come back, she wouldn't kill to avenge her husband's grief, or…

Something flew straight past his face, making him jump backwards. Somehow, with lightning precision, Papyrus had leaped between the Doctor and the lion, holding a bone in front of the lion's dull but dangerous claws.

"Don't move a muscle, kitty!" he yelled, knees shaking as he tried to hold the lion back. The lion took offense, and made more of an effort to bring its prey to the ground, but Papyrus twisted the bone sideways, surprising his attacker and pushing it to the ground instead.

The Doctor and Imhotep exhanged looks. Imhotep wanted revenge for the man who had ruined his experiments at the last moment, but not enough to let him die at the hands of his own wife. He grabbed the Doctor's hand and pulled him aside, and tried to get between the lion and Papyrus, attempting to calm it down, after all…he should be able to do that…

"Sssh. It's me…don't get angry at them. Don't kill them." Imhotep told the creature. But the lion's memories were fading fast, and it kept attacking Papyrus, with no idea who this Imhotep was. The only thing left was a dull sense of…wrongness…about killing them. Like they were part of their pride. But none of that now. All that mattered was finding food.

"Look! You won't find any meat on me!" Papyrus protested, beginning to lose his grip, mind racing on what he should do to try and get this lion away from him. He'd tried everything: scaring it off, trying to un-nerve it as much as possible…Killing it wasn't an option, though. Although, it quickly seemed like it was going to have to become one.

The lion took its first swipe at Papyrus, its claws scraping at his white armor. The dent was noticeable, and Papyrus couldn't help uttering a cry.

The Doctor stared at the pyramid, trying to conclude what could be done to bring Nefertari's soul back to the afterlife. All he could see was the faint beam connecting the two worlds, but after trying to block it with his hand, he could clearly see that that wouldn't work. It passed straight through. What was even transforming it, though? The glass. The glass. It seemed bluer than any glass he'd ever known. He pointed his sonic screwdriver at it, expecting for it to crack instantaneously, but it just wouldn't give as quickly as any other glass he'd seen before.

The Doctor heard a shout of worry coming from behind him.

He was still fighting!...the Doctor worriedly thought, glancing back at Papyrus, who was now being pushed back to the edge of the Nile river, and felt like he had to follow him, to help in any way possible.

Papyrus had had an interesting idea: didn't all cats hate the water? And there was water right behind him, wasn't there?...He stepped backwards, still locked bone-and-claw with the big cat, still managing to hold strong against the cat's massive strength somehow: but now he was stepping into the Nile and the lion seemed hesitant. Water filled his boots as the muggy waters surrounded him…then Papyrus remembered something.

"Wait…didn't you say there were crocodiles in here?..." he said, shakily.

"Yeah. Are you scared?" the Doctor replied, at the river's edge and prepared to go in with him.

"Me?! Scared of crocodiles?!...No!" Papyrus replied, backing out further and further into the river.

The Doctor knew what he actually meant: I'm terrified of crocodiles.

"Whatever you say! Crocodile attacks are…relatively uncommon!"

He felt a rippling in the water in front of them. Papyrus jumped, checking about him, and the Doctor knew that what he could feel was neither lion nor crocodile.

"What you really have to watch out for are the hippos…"

A large hippopotamus surfaced in the water, back covered in mud and weeds. It seemed to have a case of the Monday mornings, and wasn't particularly happy at being woken up. Baring its yellow-stained and scratched teeth, it yelled an amazing roar and began going after the Doctor and Papyrus, who began swimming rapidly in the opposite direction. Papyrus dropped his gigantic defense bone, trying to thrown it at the hippopotamus and missing, the Doctor dragging him through the waters as his metal armor began weighing him down.

"As if it couldn't get any worse!" gasped Papyrus, just managing to keep his head above water. "Keep an eye on the lion!" replied the Doctor, steering them both towards land. "I'll focus on getting out of its territory!-"

Papyrus and the Doctor clambered out of the water, Imhotep helping them out. The hippopotamus kept swimming after them, eyeing the new face. They too were in my territory, right?, it thought, clambering out of the water. Roaring, it began advancing on the three of them, alongside the lion. But, something was much different about the lion.

The lion stepped in front of Imhotep, roaring at Papyrus and the Doctor to keep away. The hippopotamus stopped in its tracks, confused by the lion's unusual actions.

All it took was one step forward and the lion leapt into action.

Tearing and ripping and rolling and turning, the two great animals fought, Imhotep gasping as his lion-wife fought for…he didn't quite know what. The hippopotamus retreated into the water, but the lion kept holding on, tearing and ripping at the hippopotamus. Turning over in the water, the hippopotamus tried a far different tactic. The blue light on the river's skin highlighted the struggle below the surface- the lion would not let go, no matter how many gigantic bubbles of breath escaped it. The blue light…getting stronger…the blue light!...The Doctor turned and wandered back into the clearing: now was the time to break the glass and shut off the signal, but at what cost?...

He pointed his sonic screwdriver at the already broken glass and waited.

Suddenly, the block shattered. The beam stopped. The lion fell to the ground, a corpse once more. Imhotep turned to the pyramid, and saw the Doctor again.

This time, however…he was not so enraged. He simply walked up to the Doctor, staring at the broken pyramid in disbelief, Papyrus following close behind. They left the clearing again, in silence. Imhotep stayed there, wondering if what the Doctor had done was…justified. He shouldn't mess with the gods, the plan of the afterlife…his own wife didn't want to stay. It broke his heart, but…it was the truth. The heated battle before had made him realise his rage was useless.

"You're brilliant, y'know." the Doctor mentioned, turning to Imhotep. "If it's…any consolation, you're brilliant. Working with something as simple as the pyramid and turning it into something that can harness light itself…"

"How do you know?..." Imhotep replied, stopping in the middle of the town square, ready to go on his way.

"The perception filter. You were able to see through it."

"Ah…how…interesting."

Imhotep and the pair parted ways, waving goodbye. The Doctor treaded the path back to his TARDIS, contemplating the situation…had he changed history this time?...the Doctor thought, stepping inside, silently. He had a hunch not. He couldn't pinpoint why… nothing to do but break the silence.

"Good job against the lion, by the way…" he mentioned, steering the TARDIS for different times.

"Well, thank you Doctor!" Papyrus replied, taking off his wet boots. "Oh, and…by the way, Doctor…"

The Doctor turned.

"I…understand why you...did that now."

The Doctor smiled quietly, standing there at the TARDIS console. How quick to forgive he was. He seemed like that kind of person. Holding a piece of the shattered glass under the TARDIS, he contemplated his words. Few companions did understand him. They viewed him as a boyfriend, kidnapper, tour guide, but never as a brother. No-one considered him a brother before. Well. Apart from one person- The Doctor continued on with the thought, and never looked back. Understandable for Papyrus to consider him a brother…he hoped he wouldn't act as a replacement for his true brother.

The TARDIS completed its scan, and came out with something very unusual. The glass was normal. No interstellar materials, just a unique blend and recipe for glass. Nothing unusual about it, and now that he thought about it, neither was the pyramid! Since it was made of mud bricks and now that he thought about it, quite old, some of the parts on the bottom must have decayed in the marshy ground. It was not a perfect pyramid, thus the magic that he must have explained must have been fake, a ploy. A long game, but by who! Whoever it was must have been desperate to hide it, they even shut the beam off when logic dictated it should-

All very strange. But then again, that is life when you are a time traveller.


	4. WhoTale: Perfect London

"So right here, just outside the TARDIS doors…is Earth! You monsters always wanted to see the sky, y'know?" the Doctor explained, taking his coat off.

"I've always wanted to see it! Definitely more than my brother wants to see it!" replied Papyrus, putting on the TARDIS key.

He didn't want to see it…strange, the Doctor thought, until he realised why. World-weary, wasn't he? Not lazy. When do you tell him?, the Doctor thought.

The pair of them stepped outside the TARDIS, into your almost regular garden suburban town. Papyrus immediately looked towards the sky, which reverberated with the noise of a jet plane. "It's…interesting…" commented Papyrus, gazing around him at the world where Sans might be living now.

"Oh! Just forgot. Wrong dimension. You want to go to the one with monsters on the surface or without?" the Doctor said, realising his mistake.

"I think I'd be fine here! Besides, it's rather fun being invisible…" Papyrus continued, fidding with his TARDIS key. "Almost invisible, I mean! Wait, so…why could Imhotep see me again?"

"Intelligence. Quite gifted, he was." the Doctor replied, continuing to walk down the road they'd landed on, after locking the TARDIS. "And this…is London!...Lots of squirrels, lots of high house prices, and most importantly, losts of alien activity! However…we've landed just a bit off. We're in…"

The Doctor took a sniff at the air.

"2056!..." he concluded, turning his gaze towards a levitating magna-train. They'd improved on the pollution problem, he thought. The air seemed to be much cleaner.

"Well, I don't mind a bit, Doctor!" Papyrus stated simply, leaning back on a clean, silver metal rail. "Oh, those squirrels you mentioned…"

Papyrus shifted his view to a shining metal squirrel, looking him straight in the face, a piece of rubbish clutched in its paws. Unlike your common garden squirrel, this one didn't seem very timid, but when Papyrus leant over to touch it, it scampered away into the trees, where it had seen a large plastic bag.

"They're all robots!"

The Doctor smiled as he remembered that in this point in time, cleanup methods were far out of the hands of humans. Robots did many of the menial jobs, the interesting ones left to the humans.

"This TARDIS of yours…you really did mean it when you said it was unreliable!" Papyrus mentioned, beginning to walk through the St James' Park of 2056. Rubbish bins were stationed everywhere, but no-one really used them. In fact, most people preferred to 'feed' their rubbish to the squirrels. Some were gathered in huge crowds, cooing over the robot squirrels (although they weren't the only robot animals in St James' Park, ducks served as the cleaners of the water.) But, Papyrus was noticing, some seemed…interested in the Doctor. And as he looked at them out of the corner of his eye, they definitely seemed different from your regular human: all of them wore electronic-looking glasses, but that wouldn't be enough for them to turn, stare and subtly point.

Oh, wait, he thought.

"They can see me, can't they…"

Papyrus turned to the watching people, waved, and began to walk faster and faster out of St James' Park, hoping the- oh, he didn't know, Alien Capturing Agency or something- wouldn't be rushing to the scene.

"Papyrus, you are wearing the TARDIS key, aren't you?" the Doctor asked, assessing the crowd. Papyrus fished out the key from under his armor and nodded, whipping his head around to the people briefly, who seemed mildly astonished.

"They don't seem particularly scared…" Papyrus noted, surprised.

"They've discovered life on other planets by now, including, luckily, Exor 3. Well- they discovered them. Anyway, back to Exor 3. Exor, as in Exoplanet. I was at the celebrations. Great tall Ajaxan ambassador standing in front of Buckingham Palace…wonderful to watch." the Doctor explained, motioning towards the spot where the ambassador once stood. "Question is, how can they see you?"

"No use worrying about it!" replied Papyrus. "No-one's particularly startled by me! In fact, I must say they're quite fascinated by me!"

The Doctor and Papyrus walked back through the futuristic London City…it was quite changed, quite largely changed. Monorails littered the sky, casting almost no shadow for they were made of the clearest glass. No-one but the Doctor and his companion noticed the newer, streamlined, supersonic, and cloud-white planes fly through the sky, completely silently.

It was a utopia.

A utopia, in just 40 years.

The Doctor could already smell something was off.

For one thing, either perception filters didn't work in the future, or the human race was incredibly smart in this day and age. In ordinary history, he remembered…the supersonic plane hadn't been made noiseless until 2063. Humanity had accelerated itself.

Or something else had done the job for them…

Wherever the Doctor looked, he saw…uniformity. The monorail tracks were webbing across the sky in strict mathematical patterns, the planes flew the most direct route they could. And when he looked at the crowds…he couldn't un-see the fact that they all seemed to walk in the straightest of lines.

The Doctor realised he and Papyrus were walking with them. For no real good reason, they stepped out of line and walked on their own. Everything was just too perfect, the Doctor thought. 2056 definitely wasn't like this…

Both of them were unsettled.

"Doctor...are we going to…ah, leave?" Papyrus whispered into the Doctor's ear, "You look incredibly worried about this place. I mean, I'm fine!-"

"No. There's something wrong about this place, and let me tell you something: despite the first words I told you as a companion, I don't run from mystery." the Doctor replied, slipping through the crowd into a nearby _Harrods_. It was like…a motorway, but with people instead of cars, the entrance into the shop being like an exit. He ran through the store, up the stairs, Papyrus following close behind taking a glance at the surprised crowd. Only surprised for a second, though, then going back to their perfect routes and lines. That was the worst thing.

The roof wasn't far ahead. The clean breeze blew straight into their faces, as the Doctor walked straight towards the edge of the roof.

"It's everyone."

Almost all of London was walking in beautiful straight lines…and the Doctor immediately made a connection. Every single one was wearing those glasses, and every single one was moving in sync.

"It's like a hive mind…"

"Hey, Doctor! There's someone else up here!..." Papyrus exclaimed. He'd noticed a woman with frizzy, tied up hair, bending over a camera, taking a record of the scene. The Doctor briefly turned to see her, she turned as well, looking surprised at the sight of two other people wearing no glasses. Well, not The Glasses, at least. "Oh…hello." she said, greeting them warmly. "What are you two up here for?...are you…taking a look at the crowd maybe?"

The Doctor just stood there, wondering what to ask first.

"That's all people come up here for." she continued, taking a photo of the streamlined city.

"…Yeah. I can understand why…I'm the Doctor, by the way." the Doctor replied, noticing Papyrus walking up behind him.

"And I am Papyrus! So, I was meaning to ask, why are the crowds like that?" Papyrus continued, stepping forward in front of the Doctor, to the lady's surprise. His cape chose the perfect moment to fly out into the London air.

"Why are the crowds like that? The glasses. I'm here, investigating their effects…good or bad. I'm Christie, by the way." Christie explained, smiling, showing a kinder, emotion-ridden grin than any other they'd seen in this time.

"What are those bad effects?..." the Doctor inquired, gaze shifting to the newspapers laid around the camera.

"There's been reports of…citywide depression, violence. Nothing too serious, but absolutely no-one who wasn't wearing the glasses was affected, so many people have suspected it's the glasses that do it." Christie continued, showing the newspapers and pointing out the articles, which didn't seem to be given much attention in the newspaper. "I mean, I would say, haven't you heard, but…nobody really has…"

"Weird…" muttered Papyrus.

"I investigate the weird and confusing. It's almost my job. Pity I don't get paid for it!" Christie said, beginning to pack up her camera. "By the way, Doctor! That description you gave them: a hive mind, wasn't it? Can I use that?"

"Yeah. Sure!" the Doctor replied, beginning to make his way back down into the _Harrods_ behind Christie, Papyrus staring up at the sky for a short while before following. "So, you're a journalist as well?" the Doctor inquired, struggling to keep up with her.

"Oh yes. It's practically in my blood!" Christie answered, stepping out onto the perfect footpath, crossing the perfect street, and standing briefly under a perfect tree. Neither Papyrus nor the Doctor could unsee the perfection and uniformity of the future London, but…no-one seemed to notice. Except, perhaps, for Christie.

"Still following me, then?..." she mentioned, turning to the pair.

"Well, if you want us to go-" the Doctor began to explain, but he was cut off.

"It's fine! I'm always up for company…" Christie replied hastily.

"…none of these people are willing to accompany me…"

Halfway through London, they were still following Christie. The Thames was passing them by, clean at this point of rubbish, but definitely not clear of boats. Either way, still no fish. Christie, however, stopped in her tracks. She'd felt a vibration in her pocket, and had fished out her smart phone. Much smarter now than back in the time known as the present. She'd gotten a text.

"Oh my god." she muttered, her mouth gaping open and recoiling in mild surprise. "Listen, I've gotta run. I mean, if you really want to still follow, then fine! I just won't be able to talk."

"What is it?..." asked the Doctor, beginning to jog after Christie, slipping between the lines of people.

"One of my colleagues told me there's a really good story to be found beside the Thames, half a mile down!" Christine answered, speeding up her pace.

"Gotta get the first scoop, I see…" the Doctor mentioned.

"No…I've just gotta get there before the ambulance arrives!..."

Half a mile down the Thames, on the muddy banks of the eternal symbol of London…Christine got the best scoop she'd ever gotten in her entire career.

She didn't like it.

"Brett…what do you think caused it?..." Christine whispered, crowded around the dead body of Ricki Meritt, writing frantically in the shortest of shorthand about the incident. They were acting as the coroners that never came.

"I don't know, Christine, but there are obvious connection marks between the glasses and the sides of his forehead." Brett concluded, checking Ricki's cold face.

"Um…Doctor?...Why has no-one noticed us? I mean, there's all this talk down here about dead bodies, and no-one's even shown a glance!" Papyrus whispered to the Doctor, pointing up to the footpath, which was now a couple of metres above their heads. The Doctor paused, eyebrows shooting up as he realised something about the perfect London.

"…Brett? Christine?...Let me see his face again."

Brett and Christine stepped aside, giving the Doctor some space…the Doctor inspected Ricki's face, feeling his face, taking note of every colour and tone of his face. He'd seen it before. He'd definitely seen it before, but he was having memory block. Either that or…where had he seen it!...where had he seen-

He remembered.

The Daleks.

The Daleks in 1930's America, the genocide of the Dalek-Humans…their bodies looked exactly like this.

Ricki was dead from remote psychic control. The glasses were responsible and the psychic network they linked the humans into was killing them off.

"The glasses killed him." the Doctor concluded.

Brett and Christine just looked at the Doctor in disbelief. So did Papyrus, snatching the glasses off of Ricki to see if they had just knocked him out…he could see the burned connections in the glasses…he lay back against the bricks of the wall…this was the first death he'd seen while being with the Doctor, it wouldn't be the last…and already he felt rather faint, not even at the sight of blood. Just at the thought of death…already.

Oh, look at yourself, he thought. Ha! Thinking yourself a wimp. No. Remember what you've told yourself all this time, from when you first got the door slammed on you at midnight in the pouring rain all the way up until now…

Papyrus noticed the others leaving the clearing…he followed on behind, watching the ships go by. He'd go by too.

At least…Ricki's death wasn't his fault.

The Doctor and Papyrus were led into a small apartment building. It could have been anyone's home in this robotic, automatic, perfect London…filled with flatmates. Newspapers littered the floor, laptops littered the tables. You could see a screen anywhere in your field of vision…it looked like your regular flat had been taken over by vines of wire.

"Hey guys, I'm back with the story, we got some very good details and some scientific evidence to boot. Also, uh…elephant in the room, I guess. This is the Doctor, and his, uh…friend? I guess? Papyrus." Christine said quickly, getting more excited and charismatic towards the end. There was a slight wave of commotion around the room as Brett and Christine joined their flatmates in their home- there were two of them, one men, one woman, both looking like nerds. Everyone just stood there, pleasantly surprised.

"Wait…aren't Ajaxan titles completely unrelated to Earth terms?..." one man asked, stepping forward to Papyrus as everyone else began preparing in general. Papyrus looked initially confused as well.

"It's a rough translation." Papyrus answered, before quickly escaping the conversation to drink some tea.

The Doctor was seated on a rough, weary old couch, answering a myriad of questions from Brett. Brett was rapily scribbling on the piece of paper he held in his hand, in shorthand. They're all journalists, thought the Doctor. A group of travelling journalists, all with one purpose…to deface 'the glasses.' Or, as the Doctor discovered, they were called the WebConnect Interfaces.

'The glasses' sounds better, the Doctor thought.

"The glasses hook people in to a large network allowing you to access news, long-distance chat, the internet. But it doesn't just do that. I think we have a case on our hands of mild mind control. They've still got individual identities but…not for very much longer, we don't think. And that's when we formed our team of journalists who want to take down the WebConnect industry." Brett continued.

"So after Hank here did quite a bit of digging into the source code, we've found out that the glasses hook into a computer located somewhere around here…" Brett explained, showing the Doctor a co-ordinate on Google Maps. That still existed?...the Doctor mused.

"Team! Team! You need to see this!" called a woman, standing at her laptop. "This thing about Ricki really changed everything. I've found several reports of sudden deaths over the past day. Every single one was wearing the glasses and every single victim showed signs similar to the ones you told us about, Christine."

By this point, everyone, including the Doctor and Papyrus, were crowded around the computer, staring at the news the woman, Amy, had found.

Amy…after a few seconds of mulling over her actions at hand, turned around, a look of seriousness on her face, eyebrows raised.

"We need to act."

"Well…how?..." asked Hank. "We can't just…pull a plan from nowhere."

"I've been planning this for a long time, guys. Just in case this god-damn corporation tries anything truly terrible." Amy muttered, snarling in her voice.

"Steady on…"

"Hank, she's right. Continue, Amy."

"We need to get into that address and investigate what's there. If they're as dead-minded as I thought, it won't be too hard, at least, with the Doctor's guidance."

"Oh, I'm in this now?" the Doctor said, interrupting Amy's speech.

"From your eagerness to follow our reporter, I thought you'd be quite keen, Doctor."

"I mean…I am keen." the Doctor replied.

"Oh, yeah. Papyrus, wasn't it? You keen too? We could do with extra people for the attack."

"Oh, yes!" Papyrus exclaimed, with his hand placed on his chest, trying to look as valiant as he could.

"Good. We take the nondescript white van into the factory, and basically get in, take in one of the dead WebConnect Interfaces each so we don't look suspicious, and shut off the computer, or at least look into what's killing these people."

"When do we execute this plan?" asked Brett, staring at his laptop, tracing a signal from the broken pair of glasses. "Wait. Amy. Don't answer that question. We execute it now."

The group stared in disbelief at the message on screen, translated directly from the signal.

"Strong Electrical Mental Discharge in 0h 59m 57s."

The nondescript white van careened down the streets of London, rattling over speed bumps, leaping in the air, gaining scratch marks by the second. Everyone in unison turned to watch the group. A gaping mouth spread throughout the crowd like a plague. The Doctor was…unsettled.

"We have 55 minutes and it's going to take us five more to get the the building, possibly five more to get inside!" yelled Brett to everyone in the back seat.

"I can fix that!" replied the Doctor with similar volume, leaning out of the window and using his sonic screwdriver on the tyres, lurching everone back into their seats. "Do they have these things here yet?"

"The hell?..." muttered Amy, under her breath, putting her foot down on the accelerator. Christine, however, had other things on her mind: slowly, like something out of The Walking Dead…the people were following the car. Like a woman slowly walking up to their child they had never seen before. In disbelief. All staring in particular at one window.

"Doctor…do you see them?..." whispered Christine. Not that she really needed to whisper.

"Yeah…"

They arrived at the factory with 48 minutes remaining on the timer to London's destruction. Already the Doctor could see the crowd approaching the van, but they only seemed interested in him. Him and Papyrus. Motioning to the group towards a vent he'd seen (he loved a good ventilation shaft entrance) and kept a careful eye on the approaching crowd. It was clear now, the hive mind was being taken control of and whoever was doing it was their target. Alien, human, something else. He didn't know. He hated not knowing…

He'd been standing there. The rest of the group was gone, and the Doctor gladly left the crowd behind.

Besides.

Something was telling him he must be the first to check the machine. He didn't know why. It was…a gut feeling. Just…a gut feeling.

The grating clattered to the ground. The group was inside the factory, and…no-one seemed to have noticed them. Security guards began stepping forward, introducing themselves as…guides.

"So, where do you wish to guide us?" asked Papyrus, beginning to feel a little uneasy.

"We wish to guide the Doctor." they responded, leading the Doctor down a corridor, un-naturally quickly. The rest of the group was left behind, following slowly but surely. Muttering between each other. Suspiciously eyeing the guards…

"Where are you taking me?" snapped the Doctor, staying one step ahead of the guards, who made no effort to keep him in his sight. Yet, he didn't feel the want to run. They'd lead you to what everyone wanted.

"The psychic control room."

The Doctor made no reply, as the group eyed the Doctor suspiciously as well…he was different, Christine thought, as she fiddled with her fake glasses nervously. Amy only thought to follow the guards, realising suddenly that the guards might be slowing them down. She yelled at them to move faster, but they only seemed to listen to the words of the Doctor.

The Doctor had a gut feeling that he was being sent in the right direction, and…already he could see what he wanted, he began subconsciously moving quicker and quicker. It was…something telling him that time was running out…that he was the only one that could fix this…

Suddenly, the guards turned an abrupt corner. Turning to the group following on behind, they quickly stated that only the Doctor may continue. The group, suspicions confirmed somewhat, began attempting to get through the human wall they'd formed, but to no avail, the Doctor kept walking, the guards kept pushing them back, and Papyrus stared at the Doctor- had he abandoned him?

The Doctor walked unimpeded into the psychic control room. Immediately recognizing the setup, the Doctor was amazed: the psychic network wasn't artificial. A pre-existing psychic network, used by humans for a hive mind network…foolish, foolish. The entity in control could do anything with a psychic network with this much-

The doors slammed behind him, and locked themselves shut. The Doctor whipped around from the console he had been studying.

Back to it.

The entity in control of this psychic network had humanity in the palm of its hand. It could crush them. Control them. It would give them heightened intelligence, but at the eventual cost of free will. No. Never mind thinking the obvious. He had to destroy the machine…now…

The Doctor felt a burning sensation at the side of his head. The glasses began to spark, come back to life, the Doctor's hands reached for the glasses, but it was too late, the Doctor fell backwards against the console, full force of the fall hitting against his chest. He couldn't help uttering a cry of true pain before his mouth paralyzed as well. He could hear a pounding in his ears: a cruel mixture of a laugh and a scream, pitch lowering ever lower and lower, his vision was filled slowly with white smoke and dust, what was happening? No! It couldn't be happening, he'd been such an idiot- YOU IDIOT- the psychic control, getting to you, the Doctor, Lord of Time, such a strong mind…strong…mind…

He couldn't see. He couldn't hear. He couldn't even think.

"DOCTOR!" gasped Papyrus, hearing the Doctor's scream through the metal door, he struggled against the guards, but they were rigid like blocks of wood. "LET ME THROUGH!" he yelled, mind racing…he was racing too now, crushing the psychic glasses in his hand, the group didn't matter now, all that mattered was running, running. He could sense where it was…

The Doctor had slipped onto the floor now, mouth gaped open. He looked like any other drunk on the street, except his face was still twisted with pain. He could only think the simplest of things now…he was being limited, being absorbed, been betrayed by his own arrogance…

Noise. Noise at the wall.

Sound of explosions.

He could barely understand the words.

"We have 2 minutes!-"

"Get the wires!-"

"They're coming!-"

"Hold them off-"

"It's opening!-"

"No-no-no-no-no-"

"It's stuck!"

"ALLOW ME!-"

The door was forced open, as a large bone clattered to the floor, the Doctor could hear…just…a light squeaking sound on the floor…he couldn't make a connection to it, he was near dead and the only thing on his mind now was staying alive…

"DOCTOR! Wake up! We've only got one minute left, we need you!" Papyrus yelled into the Doctor's ear, putting the Doctor into his best memory of the recovery position, and ripping off the glasses. The Doctor opened his eyes, they almost immediately rolled backwards into his head….danger…lever…needed to…that's all he remembered…

"I'm sure he's just…sleeping…" muttered Papyrus…eyebrows drawn down in sadness, his breath trembling for a moment.

"THERE'S NO TIME FOR THAT!" yelled Amy. "THE COUNTDOWN'S SPENT! BRETT, JUST DESTROY THE CONSOLE!"

All over London, the population fell to the ground: the screaming that pervaded their minds destroying them so quickly no-one could understand it…London was a hive mind, and that hive mind was breaking.

"Won't…work…" gasped the Doctor, incorently. Brett paused, Amy looked at him in disbelief. It had to work, there was no other way…no other way…The Doctor began to slowly motion his hand towards one of the levers. Christine flicked the lever, and then the next one the Doctor indicated. The next one, the next one, while Amy gave her the look – Papyrus gave her the look back, the one normally reserved for Sans.

"How the hell does he know what to do?..." snapped Amy, stress levels rising by the second.

"He just does!" replied Papyrus, helping the Doctor up as he regained consciousness.

"I think it's working…" gasped Christine, looking at the console's myraid screens.

The spell was broken over London…some fainted. Some lay gasping on the side of fences or trees or walls…immediately, everyone ripped off their glasses, some crushed them, some immediately began complaining to WebConnect, some put them away and swore never to touch them again. All their insecurities about the hive mind were flooding back. London's perfection broke like shattering glass.

"I can't believe it." replied Amy, leading the group out of the room to witness the carnage slash salvation, Papyrus helping the Doctor out of the room.

"Hopefully the Doctor can explain exactly what this is…" Brett said, checking back at the Doctor, who was still incredibly shaken.

"What even happened to him?..." muttered Hank.

"I don't know!...Honestly, Doctor, you scared me half to death!" Papyrus replied, glove holding up the Doctor, who was beginning to regain feeling to his legs.

"We'll…get…back to the TARDIS." the Doctor gasped, more coherent this time. Leading the group out of the factory and into the now imperfect London, the Doctor talked with the group, explaining what happened to him…and that the same thing probably happened to the rest of London..

Eventually, the Doctor parted ways with the group, swearing to, perhaps, see them again. The gang chattered about what they'd do now: maybe investigate the origins of the psychic network, shut down any attempts to revitalise the glasses. A shaking of hands later, the Doctor and Papyrus walked back into the TARDIS, leaving London behind.

Papyrus noticed a movement behind him: the Doctor had come out of the Zero Room at last…he'd come up with a brilliant suggestion for where they should go. It was always incredibly hard to choose where to travel to next…you have all of time and space to explore. But now! This was the elephant in the room!

"Ah! There you are, Doctor! I had a brilliant idea for where we should go next!-" Papyrus exclaimed, turning to the now recovered Doctor.

"Oh yeah? Where?..." replied the Doctor.

"You said you were an alien, so maybe we can go to your home planet!"

The Doctor froze in place.

"It's gone." he explained simply, making no eye contact.

"Gone?..." gasped Papyrus. "Wait, so…your planet…went?...and all your other aliens like you are just…homeless?..."

"They're called Time Lords."

"Alright…"

There was a long pause, as the Doctor wondered if he should reveal his secret again. The secret that chased him throughout time and space. The secret that tormented him.

"I'm not just a Time Lord."

"…Oh?" muttered Papyrus, wondering what secret the Time Lord was going to reveal, out of his myriad of others.

"I'm the last of the Time Lords."

Papyrus let out a small gasp. Finally. He understood the look on his face when he called him out as lonely. Yet…he didn't understand it. He didn't want popularity or…anything. Didn't actively seek a friend. Just wandering alone, just like he'd given up finding a friend.

The Doctor felt a gloved hand on his back. He turned to Papyrus, who, for once, looked deadly serious.

"I don't know what happened to the other companions to get them to…ahh…dump you?...But I won't leave you like them. Time Lord! I'll help you through these trying times


	5. WhoTale: Attack from Within

Papyrus was standing by the TARDIS pool, completely dry at last. He'd spent the entire swim contemplating how far he'd come….and being confused as well. How exactly would it work when he went back to Sans with so much to talk about, just one day after he'd left?...All this timey-wimey…hurt his head a bit.

Speaking, or rather, thinking, of Sans, Papyrus missed him a little. Realising suddenly, he tried texting Sans, seeing if the number still worked…he had a sneaking suspicion it wouldn't, and true to his hypothesis, as soon as he walked into the console room, he got an automatic reply: the text failed, reasons unknown.

"Phone not working?..." asked the Doctor, not even looking up from the console.

"Yeees?...Also, how did you know that?"

"I'm the Doctor, just accept it." the Doctor replied, beckoning for Papyrus to give him his mobile phone.

Papyrus handed it over, asking what he was going to do with it with a curious expression on his face. "Upgrading it!" the Doctor explained, pointing at the phone with his sonic screwdriver, "although, it might be harder than usual. You've got a completely new kind of technology!- ah, got it!"

The Doctor handed back Papyrus' phone, which had nothing to show for its change apart from a slight new clearness to the screen. Papyrus tried again- and the text got through…after a slight delay.

Well. Not a slight delay. But a very tense one nonetheless.

"He replied across time and space!" exclaimed Papyrus, receiving a nonchalant 'hi' text from his brother. "Oh, that is just awesome!...by the way, where are we going this time?"

The Doctor, now that Papyrus noticed it, was pulling at the levers on the console more frantically than ever before. "I'm following the psychic network, following the source…"

"How interesting!- That's probably why the trip's taking so long! Where have you locked on to, though?" asked Papyrus, flipping over a large blue bone in his hand, and striding out into the TARDIS console room. By now, he was sure, the Great Papyrus wouldn't be seasick, or time vortex-sick, any more! He'd even accustomed to the rolling floor of the TARDIS-

CRASH.

The TARDIS, as though gripped in a giant hand, was ripped out of its preset course and flung straight into another- the Doctor was nearly knocked down, and Papyrus was ripped straight off his feet, the battle body clanging straight down on the TARDIS floor: the noise was lost against the heaving groans of the TARDIS, desperately trying to resist the force. Papyrus looked up to find the Doctor yelling, "NO, no, no, no, NO!"

"What's gone wrong this time?-" gasped Papyrus, getting up from the TARDIS floor, confidence very briefly shattered before regaining it almost immediately, as always.

"We've been thrown off course!" replied the Doctor, "This psychic network's more powerful than I thought!" He frantically pressed almost every button he could think of, or at least, that's how it looked, in a vain attempt to get the TARDIS back on course. But nothing worked. Nothing worked at all. The TARDIS was already landing, and no matter how hard the Doctor tried, it wouldn't take off again.

"Maybe we are on course, and we just came across some kind of turbulence?..." suggested Papyrus, following the Doctor out of the TARDIS…

They were both faced by shining metal, every way they looked. Shining metal and staring crewmembers.

"Are you the technicians we sent for?..." asked one of the crewmembers, looking suspiciously at the Doctor and Papyrus. The TARDIS had landed on some kind of research ship.

"Well, he's definitely very good with technology! What is your problem, misters?..." Papyrus explained, leaning back against the TARDIS, hoping to look as friendly as possible.

"Yeah. If you sent for a technician, I'm that technician." the Doctor continued, slightly nervously. The crewmember looked at the Doctor in a 'prove it' sort of way, to which the Doctor responded by holding up a seemingly blank piece of paper. The crewmember nodded. "Well, our problem is that there's something in the ship's computer we can't get rid of. We suspected that our technician might not be experienced enough." they explained, leading the Doctor and Papyrus to the computer control room.

"Also, what's the alien doing here?"

"Sidekick." the Doctor replied.

"I'm not an alien!-" exclaimed Papyrus. "Anyway…yes, he's correct! I am his sidekick! I'm Papyrus, by the way."

"Neat…By the way, I'm Kit. So, if you aren't an alien, what are you?..." Kit asked, opening a door with a tiny keycard.

"You explain this, Doctor!" Papyrus answered, glancing over at the Doctor, who had other things on his mind. He snapped out of his reverie.

"It's a seriously long story." the Doctor replied, hoping to put Kit off an explanation.

The Doctor was staring at the computer process screen, Kit constantly pointing at different processes, all of which supposedly had something to do with the situation at hand. The Doctor already could tell the details: a virus had infected the on-board computer, and the 'payload' was showing signs of activity. Any nerd would be terrified by this prospect: your system was going to get roasted and you didn't know when.

"So we first noticed this process on the system on Alucardan the 23rd, just this year, and so far it's done nothing, but occasionally the amount of CPU process it's using up fluctuates, suggesting it's active but dormant. Every time we try and end the process…something happens. It varies. We've sometimes noticed considerable lag while using Internet Explorer ever since we-"

"Hold on, hold on." the Doctor whispered, putting his finger to his lips. "Who started the process?..."

"We checked that. It says that our captain, Isaac, started it-"

The Doctor's sonic screwdriver whipped out of his pocket. There was a second layer of information below the first, and the sonic screwdriver revealed it as-

000.

"Zero…zero…zero…" gasped the Doctor. Both the Doctor and Papyrus remembered where they'd seen that code before.

"That's the code you told me about…" Papyrus replied. "Kit! We've concluded that this virus is incredibly dangerous!"

"So what do you suggest we do?" Kit asked, turning away from the computer.

"We delete it, of course!" concluded Papyrus, reaching for the touchscreen.

"Didn't you hear me? We can't end it-" Kit protested, giving the look to Papyrus.

"Fine! I just don't like to eavesdrop. Also – Doctor, look!" Papyrus replied, suddenly taking notice of a gigantic change on the screen. The Doctor and Kit turned to see the task manager completely devoid of processes other than 000, and 000 was taking up 100% of the CPU.

"Oh my god."

"Doctor, look! Out the window!-"

The Doctor turned to the window, amazed to see the rockets firing at full strength. Kit's face fell, she glanced at the computer screen and back at the jet rockets, hardly believing what she was seeing.

"WE'RE MOVING!-"

"CAPTAIN ISAAC! CAN YOU CONTROL THE SHIP?!" yelled Kit, screaming into her walkie-talkie so desperately you could her her voice crack under the strain.

"NO!" replied the captain with equal vervor.

"WHERE'S IT TAKING US?!" asked Kit, now running towards the cockpit, dragging the Doctor and Papyrus with her. All the screens on the ship now read 000 in blocky red letters that the Doctor seemed to recognize and fear.

"DOWN!" replied the captain. Kit stared out one of the ship's portholes, and saw that the ship was heading straight for the planet below them, the view slowly turning red as the spaceship hurtled straight through the atmosphere. Kit's walkie-talkie's volume increased suddenly-

"ALL CREW MEMBERS EVACUATE TO ESCAPE POD A34! I REPEAT, ALL-"

The audio cut out immediately.

"Run, you two!-"

The ship's winding corridors seemed to be closing in on them, doors were shutting randomly, the ship had gone crazy, the ceiling was sparking, and standing up straight was almost impossible. There was A34, the Doctor noticed, but something was beginning to block the way- a door was sliding down in front of them-

"Go!" the Doctor yelled, pushing Kit and Papyrus onto the ground to slide under it- ducking: the gap was rapidly growing thinner- Papyrus was there, bracing the door with a large bone: the Doctor slid under the gap, dragging Papyrus with him just as the bone snapped in half.

A34 was filled with trembling crewmembers: the Doctor, Kit and Papyrus jumped into the pod. One particular man was frantically trying to get the escape pod to eject, screaming "WHY THE HELL ISN'T IT WORKING!-" The Doctor rushed over to the man, suddenly noticing that the touchscreen control panel was completely blacked out. Killed. There was nothing he could do.

"Everyone get into a bracing position!" the Doctor ordered, to little effect as a climate of panic and fear had asserted itself firmly in the pod.

Papyrus had already gained a position between the crewmembers, saving a spot for the Doctor, who sat down beside him, almost curled up into a ball as the safety guides dictated. Papyrus was trembling somewhat…he knew the Doctor could notice, because he was gripping his mitten tighter than before.

"Doctor, I confess…" he whispered. "I am a little bit afraid…"

"Oh, don't worry. Fear's good." the Doctor replied.

The spaceship plunged through the atmosphere, faster and faster, the roaring of burning heat shields pounding in their ears.

No-one could shake the feeling that this would be the end.

Thirty seconds later, Papyrus finally opened his eyes. He was…alive! Everyone else was alive, the Doctor was alive. How exactly he'd done it, he wasn't sure. No-one had expected to survive…and no-one expected to see water when they looked out of the window. The

"If that hadn't happened any other time…we would have not only crashed but burned…" one of the crewmembers commented, worriedly. The Doctor was already theorizing what might have happened.

The virus. Its activation at their prescence could only mean one thing: it wasn't an ordinary virus, and was most likely somehow connected to the thing throwing the TARDIS off course…

It all made sense.

The Doctor gasped, seeing suddenly the danger they were in.

That psychic network, with no strengthening whatsoever, had taken mild control of his mind and motives. A voice in his head. He couldn't hear it now, which must mean the virus or psychic network must have other weapons to use.

Like the ship itself, the Doctor realised.

As the crew stepped out of the ship, the Doctor kept a wary eye about him. "Be careful, all of you." he warned, trying to force the crew to stay back. "The virus has done more than crash the ship!" The crew eyed him, and Papyrus too, skeptically. Honestly, what right did they have to boss them around?...only Kit seemed to trust them, and even then seemed eager to continue forward without them.

"Wait! What else can the virus do?" asked Papyrus, turning to the Doctor as the crew slowly creeped forward into the dented, broken and sparking ship.

"It's in control of the ship." the Doctor replied. "Complete control of the whole ship…"

The crew made slow and careful progress through the ship, some moving faster than others. The Doctor headed the team, scanning the way ahead with his sonic screwdriver, shutting off the odd computer when it appeared to threaten them.

The Doctor didn't notice the gap growing in the group. A gap between the faster and the slower…a gap between the eager and the unwilling. Kit, Isaac and the Doctor at the front, Papyrus lagging just behind leading the other crewmembers.

It was just then that the crew got their confirmation that the virus was alive.

Just as the gap passed over the place where a door would normally slam shut- a door slammed shut between them.

The Doctor immediately turned to find Papyrus locked on the other side of the door with two other crewmembers, Kit and Isaac joined him as he tried in vain to crack the glass porthole in the door with his sonic screwdriver. The Doctor could hear him, only just from the other side-

"DOCTOR! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?! I'LL TRY AND GET US OUT OF HERE!" yelled Papyrus, thumping on the glass porthole, trying in vain to break the glass with a large bone, but nothing would work.

"It's reinforced." said one of the crewmembers, at last.

Papyrus wouldn't give up, still staring at the door. "Doctor! I'm going to try and re-open it!" he told the Doctor, trying desperately to tap at the controls set to the side of the door-

"I've tried that!-" replied the Doctor, face nearly pressed up against the door. "We're going to send out a distress signal, I need you to just stand your ground. Got that?"

Papyrus nodded, almost sadly.

"Well…everyone…I guess we're on our own now!" Papyrus continued, turning to the two crewmembers he stood with. They began to slowly walk away from the door, Papyrus motioning to the Doctor that they'd keep in contact via text.

"…Papyrus, wasn't it?..." one of the crewmembers replied. "We might be here for quite some time…so…uh…I'm Maxine."

"Oh yeah…mine's Alex." explained the other crewmember, leading them both to a safer place. "Come on, you two."

The Doctor walked up through the ship, holding back Kit and Isaac. Every now and then, he'd look to the side and see the bubbles rising ever faster…But…he didn't want to have to worry about that now…hopefully. Systematically, the Doctor fried the circuits of the doors, fixing them in one position: open. A door could do so many things, the Doctor thought…crush you…lock you off…

But, looking at the water outside…

It could also let things in.

The Doctor began being more liberal in terms of the doors, as he made his way to the cockpit. It was…just up ahead, and he seemed to have an advantage over the virus…for now.

"Isaac, we have an emergency callout kit, correct? What other supplies do we have?" the Doctor inquired, running faster and faster through the ship.

"Life form detector, emergency call signal, supplies, food, all that jazz, water purifier…" Isaac replied, rattling off the list quicker than the Doctor ever could, and that was saying something.

"Hey, what did you say your name was, by the way?" asked Kit, enthusiastically, trying to keep the morale of the band up.

"The Doctor." the Doctor answered, turning briefly back to Kit, with a smile on his face brighter than the ship around them, which was flickering in general.

"Some kind of brand name? Like Doctoring your Appliances?...Nah! Geeks on Wheels flows off the tounge better." Kit joked, showing the Doctor the way around the ship.

Many minutes later, the Doctor had the emergency distress signal transmitter working. Thanks to some well-needed foresight, the machine wasn't connected to the main computer. All it took was a single button press and a stating of emergency and the distress signal was flying through the vastness of space.

Kit and Isaac breathed a sigh of relief, but the Doctor heard something moving behind him. Turning around, he couldn't see anything suspicious, but a thought was crawling into his mind.

"Tell me…do you have any kind of maintenance robots on this ship?..."

"Well!" exclaimed Papyrus, sitting in a small escape pod with Alex and Maxine. "The Doctor's just sent a text saying he's sent the signal!"

"Good man. I'm guessing Isaac showed the Doctor where the supplies were…" Maxine commented. "Yeah…hopefully in around half an hour a rescue ship will arrive. We've…just gotta wait it out, y'know?"

"Question is, what are we supposed to do?..." muttered Alex.

"Truth or Dare?..." suggested Papyrus. Alex gave him a withering look, while Maxine smiled, almost awkwardly.

"You know what?...you're a good morale boost…" Maxine replied, giggling slightly. Alex simply said nothing, and began looking around the doors for a possible way to release them from the virus.

"So…what exactly do you do here?" asked Papyrus, after a long and awkward pause.

"Research, actually…this isn't actually just, well, a ship. It's a modular ship…so we can take it apart and put it back together once we land…" Maxine explained.

"Wow…" Papyrus replied. "Honestly, this whole space travel thing really has expanded my life."

"Alright guys- I've gotten into the circuits of the door. We should be able to close the doors without that stupid ship interfering." Alex finally declared, turning to his acquaintances. He reached deep into the circuits-

And something started playing through the intercom. Alex recoiled suddenly as a mild electric shock, just enough to knock him over, coursed through his body.

"Section Four ejecting. Evacuate area immediately."

The Doctor watched on in amazement as a large and imposing robot walked stiffly towards them. "Isaac, Kit, run ahead!" he yelled, retrieving his sonic screwdriver from his pocket. A probe, that's what it was, equipped with drills and weapons. Connected also to the main ship's computer, it began advancing on the Doctor, drills whirring and moving as if puppeteered by a master of fighting.

But first, to disarm.

A claw emerged from below the robot, grabbing the Doctor's leg and flipping him onto the ground, another from the same place plucking the Doctor's screwdriver straight out of his hand incredibly quickly- they'd improved, the Doctor thought- and before the Doctor could even blink, there was a large drill pointed straight at his face. The Doctor took a kick at the robot's underside, flipping it partially over and forcing the claw to release the Doctor's leg –

Kit and Isaac were running back into the cockpit, Isaac suggesting they should do a lifeform scan, every so often checking back to see if the Doctor was alright. The scan refused to work, but Kit began rewiring the scanner to work on the batteries of something else. Neither of them thought they'd survive much longer.

The Doctor, back fighting the robot on the stairs to the cockpit, was practicing something he hadn't performed since his third incarnation. Venusian Aikido. Didn't work very well against robots, but it was all the Doctor could do. All the while he was moving back, back into the cockpit, trying to get the robot of stay back, back, back away from the crew. Ripping a claw off of the probe, he took a hefty whack at the eye-binoculars. (always aim for the eyestalk) For a moment, it appeared to work, the robot shuddering in confusion-

The door to the cockpit was slammed shut with the press of a button. Immediately the robot, and now the Doctor noticed it, several others began drilling at the hard metal of the door. They didn't have long. Not long at all…he'd backed himself into a dead end…

"WHAT THE HELL?!" screamed Isaac. "RECONNECT SECTION FOUR!" The Doctor turned to see Isaac desperately hammering at the console.

"Isaac, nothing's working!-" yelled Kit in reply. "Just let it go!-"

"The rest of the crew are in there!-"

The Doctor froze suddenly. He remembered Papyrus not even being able to swim in the waters of the Nile properly.

It was a mistake, he thought.

"RUN!" screamed Alex, gazing in horror at the rapidly shutting door. Papyrus looked at Alex, wondering if he meant him- Alex nodded, frantically motioning for him to get under the door.

Papyrus turned to run, but something stopped him in his tracks. He couldn't face leaving his friends behind…it would be…almost selfish.

The door clicked shut.

"Why the hell didn't you run?!" gasped Alex, after several seconds of gasping like a fish.

Papyrus didn't quite have the strength to tell them.

"Isaac! Can the rescue ship rescue from underwater?!"

"I'm afraid not, Doctor…" Isaac replied, looking at the manual stating the rescue ship type.

"Open the door." the Doctor demanded, deadly serious.

"No."

"Open the door!" the Doctor repeated. "Open it quickly!"

Isaac shot the Doctor a confused look, but was unable to stop the Doctor from slamming his hand down onto a button, making the cockpit door shoot upwards, dragging the robots, drills with it to be crushed. The Doctor, Kit and Isaac made their escape.

The trio could only watch as Section Four began to drift away from the rest of the ship. Alex tried desperately to get the doors to work, but to no avail: they were snapped shut tight. Every movement Alex took caused the rocket boosters on the sides of the section to propel the section further and deeper into the ocean.

Papyrus was frantically sending texts to the Doctor, trying to get a response. Every minute he became more and more panicked. He'd never learned to swim…after all he'd come from a place where if you even stepped in the water you'd snap freeze, and there was also the battle body to worry about.

Suddenly, the Doctor replied to the barrage of texts he'd sent to him.

"Get out of there and swim to the surface., and do it now. The rescue vehicle can't do underwater. It's your only option."

Papyrus turned to Alex and Maxine, with quite a serious look on his face.

"We've got to swim for it." he declared.

Alex and Maxine just stared at him, trying to think of any other possible solutions…Maxine looked down, somewhat out of fear. "I guess there's no other way out, is there?..." she muttered. Alex, however, seemed to be having an idea.

"You can create bones out of thin air, can't you?" he enquired. "Can you, by any chance, make them more hollow?..."

Papyrus nodded: he'd tried it once when he was little: he'd almost perfected the art, at the cost of some fighting skill.

"Then that'll act the same as any life ring…Go on."

Papyrus, with a click of his fingers, was holding a bone that felt abnormally light. Handing the bone to his peers, he pointed a defiant mitten to the roof of Section 4, and broke down the metal roof with a barrage of attacks.

The water began rushing in immediately, and Papyrus felt his fear come back.

The Doctor was rushing down the corridor, running to where Section 4 had been. If he wasn't there to meet the swimmers as they surfaced, who could tell how much longer they'd last in the deep and murky waters. That, and it could well be beneficial to get onto the outside of the ship, what with all the robots everywhere. By now, the Doctor had reclaimed his sonic screwdriver.

There it was.

A hatch. An exit or airlock onto the roof- the Doctor immediately began climbing the ladder to reach the roof, brandishing his sonic screwdriver. Feeling insecure, he checked behind him and sure enough, another probe was coming up towards them: but he didn't seem to have time for that- the hatch was already open and the Doctor was scrambling onto the roof.

Suddenly, just as Isaac scrambled up beside him, he heard a scream from below.

Kit had been left behind, and was fighting tooth and claw with a probe, brandishing its drill and a claw that sparked with electricity. She was fighting back spectacularly for an untrained crew member unspecialised in combat. But it was a losing battle. The rover was pushing Kit to the floor, she screamed for the Doctor's help.

"USE IT!" the Doctor screamed, trying to hand the sonic screwdriver to Kit.

Kit reached her hand out for the Doctor's vital weapon.

Leaving the probe's claw a chance to strike.

Kit was electrocuted, falling to the ground, the Doctor recoiled, Isaac reached for her hand. The Doctor fell onto the probe immediately, crushing it under his angry footsteps. Why? Why?...He thought. Just when it looked like everybody would live…it always had to be taken away from him! Every time!...

He walked away, a neutral yet deadly serious look on his face. To anyone else, it would look like he didn't care.

Papyrus, Maxine and Alex struggled to escape the artificial waterfall, but soon they were in the water and slowly rising: the plan was working, Alex thought, smiling despite having his cheeks filled with a gigantic breath. Papyrus kicked upwards as hard as he possibly could, he could feel his breath running out…even though he'd just got into the water…he could feel his heart practically pounding out of his chest. He'd accepted by now that he was slightly terrified. But…didn't the Doctor say fear was good?...no.

He just had to swim. Swimming upwards with all the force and determination he could muster, he focused his mind and the task ahead.

He was so determined that they didn't hear the bone snap on the left side.

Alex was left swimming in free space, temporarily amazed. Trying to catch up with them, he quickly discovered he couldn't swim as well without the buoyancy the bone provided…at least his idea saved…saved….saved…

Papyrus kept on swimming, almost in another world now, all that mattered was survival. A blue light could be seen echoing through the depths: Papyrus subconsciously directed himself towards it. The light was getting closer, closer, the bursting pain in his lungs didn't even matter now, he was nearly there, his vision was blurring but that didn't matter…

Maxine and Papyrus burst from the water, staring straight at the Doctor, who helped them out and onto the platform, dripping with water and pride.

"I did it, Doctor! I'm alive!" Papyrus gasped, finally finding the words to speak. He collapsed onto the metal roof of the spaceship, watching the sky and noticing the rescue ship flying there.

"Maxine! Alex!" called Papyrus, glancing around him.

"I'm over here!" called Maxine, just beginning to stand up.

"Good, where's Alex? Alex!" Papyrus continued, looking down at the water, where the buoyancy bone floated…the left part…was snapped off. Papyrus froze, the puzzle pieces instantly connecting.

"He'll…come up in a moment…won't he?..." Papyrus stammered, glancing at the Doctor before continuing to stare at the water, waiting for Alex to surface. Maxine closed her eyes, in a brief moment of silence. Papyrus realised what had in fact happened, and his eyes filled with tears. The Doctor could only watch as Papyrus broke down in front of him, not even seeming to notice the ladder dropping from the rescue ship.

The two other survivors slowly left the scene, leaving Papyrus and the Doctor to sit by the edge of the water, in silence. Finally, Papyrus wiped his eyes a little, and spoke.

"Sorry about this…I don't normally…cry…I know all of your companions have to be very…brave. I'm not acting my…ah…bravest, you know?... "

"You're still brave." the Doctor replied. Papyrus seemed incredibly surprised, sure that the Doctor was just saying it to make him feel better. "As I said to one of my older companions…courage isn't just a matter of not being frightened…it's being afraid and doing what you have to do anyway. Same principle applies here…" the Doctor continued.

Papyrus turned to the Doctor, giving him a weak smile. "You're right…Doctor."

"I know what it's like." the Doctor said, making his way down into the ship. "I've seen a lot in my time, maybe too much. It's only once in a blue moon that everybody lives. And yet I never accept it when they don't…"

"How do you even manage?" Papyrus asked, half confused and half saddened by the Doctor's tale.

"I don't know, really." the Doctor replied, stepping into the TARDIS. The ship had sent a total shutdown signal to the ship…now it would simply be a dead piece of metal and glass. Forgotten.

"So, Doctor, shall we continue pursuing the psychic network?..." Papyrus asked the Doctor, completely dry at last. The lasting tremble in his breath that anyone gets after crying had dissipated, and Papyrus seemed more confident in himself again.

"I don't know if it'll be of any use…" the Doctor replied. "Unless…the jump in space and time was too large!- if we can move stealthily towards the source, we might be able to get there unscathed."

"Interesting plan!-" Papyrus concluded.

"Normally I don't even have a plan at all…"


	6. WhoTale: Frozen in Time

The Doctor was becoming more and more amazed every second. The TARDIS wasn't even trying to resist this time, and the TARDIS was being thrown across time and space once again, tumbling through the vortex- not only that, but the lights appeared to flicker, plunging them into complete darkness every couple of seconds at that point, and it was getting worse.

"You really did mean it when you said it was unreliable!" Papyrus yelled over the screeching of metal, hanging on to one of the TARDIS seats.

"Yep! Makes the ship who she is! Did you know, it's not actually supposed to be a police box!" the Doctor replied in a similar volume.

"Wait! You're implying that it's living?!" Papyrus gasped, managing to stagger over to the console.

"She's a soul of her own! Anyway. I had a thought. What if this source is in another timeline?...Sans always talked about timelines-" the Doctor explained, before suddenly noticing that the TARDIS had finally landed. All the moving pixels that the TARDIS normally bore proudly were completely gone, the screens completely blacked out. The Doctor seemed to stare at the TARDIS with a look of mild horror: unless they'd landed themselves back on Earth at the specific date and time, the location they were on could be the one they were stuck for good. Cautiously, he opened the door of the TARDIS, fully expecting to be in the middle of space.

In fact, he couldn't even open the door.

The gentle effort it normally took wasn't working. Shoving the door, he managed to force it open, to find quite a large amount of snow tumbling onto the TARDIS floor. The Doctor stepped outside to find a blizzard blowing straight into his face, almost completely obscuring the way: faint shadows could be seen, but only barely. Already he could hear Papyrus behind him, briefly looking shocked before breathing a sigh of relief.

"Honestly, I was quite panicked for a moment there. I thought you brought me back home! But no…" Papyrus explained, gazing out onto the white landscape.

"Look- I think that's Big Ben!"

The Doctor's eyebrows shot up almost immediately.

"This almost seems intentional!" Papyrus continued, continuing out over the snow. "If this place is supposed to be dangerous, this…um…psychic network is either incredibly stupid or taunting us!" Clearly, judging by its depth, the Doctor could tell it had been snowing for several days on end by this point, nonstop. He'd never dealt with this kind of weather before, at least, not on the aboveground world. And thus: he couldn't see a thing.

"Well…what shall we do now? Explore, perhaps?" Papyrus suggested, taking tenacious steps out from the TARDIS. "You'll be alright out here, won't you?" he asked, knowing for sure he was much more experienced on the snow and ice than the Doctor. The ground beneath him felt suspiciously flat, and many a Snowdin child had made the unfortunate mistake of running out onto snow-covered ice with no idea of the sub-zero water beneath!...

"I'll lead the way!" Papyrus cried, voice echoing across the white landscape.

"Wait…" the Doctor protested calmly, running as well as he could after Papyrus though the hardened and sparkling snow. If at least they could find some shelter, that would be decent…

The trio walked across the ice, and beheld a blue box in the snowstorm. Every single wavelength sensor they were reading from told them that this was an energy source to be envious of.

They knew instantly what to do.

"I have a feeling I know where we are…" the Doctor declared, staring up at the icicle-bound London Bridge. It was almost beautiful to watch: it was so calming, just to see a city literally frozen in time. The ice below them was clear as glass now, sheltered from the snow that constantly fell. Definitely, it was thick enough for them both to stand on without the ice even showing a splinter.

"London." the Doctor continued, smiling. "I don't know when. Probably sometime during the next ice age…Why the psychic network brought us here, I have no idea…"

"Maybe it just got confused!" Papyrus suggested, sliding around gingerly on the ice, gaining confidence as the Doctor gave him a reassuring nod. Papyrus had gone through quite a few profession ideas before settling on a soldier of the Royal Guard, and for a brief time, one of them had been a professional ice-skater.

"All-powerful psychic networks don't tend to-"

Both of them seemed to stop in time as gunshots echoed over the landscape. Gentle smashing sounds could be heard as icicles were detached from the bridge: the Doctor could see what was practically a small army charging over London Bridge, chanting uninterpretable cries- battle cries, the Doctor realised- and taking warning shots over the river. War-torn, the Doctor concluded.

And there he was thinking humanity might unite for once.

The Doctor grabbed Papyrus' hand, even though he'd already started to run, and the two of them charged back over the ice in the opposite direction. Papyrus was advising them to run towards the edge of the ice: the Doctor protested, looking back and realising that the shots were going directly at them by now. Finally, they took a running leap and slid across the ice, knowing instinctively where the TARDIS was. Skidding immediately quickly across the shining glass, they careened into the area where the TARDIS should have been.

Nothing was there.

The Doctor just looked at the empty square of raised snow, a look of pure disbelief on his face. Papyrus immediately ran over to where it definitely should have been- nothing! Nothing was there!...although…in such deep snow evidence could never be fully erased.

"No…" the Doctor gasped, gazing out over the tracks going out across the snow. They were that of a jeep…or something. Already it was becoming…somewhat difficult to tell…

"Oh, no, no, no." Papyrus half-replied, panic evident in his voice. The Doctor stepped quickly ahead of him, beginning to follow the markings of the theives, soon jogging then immediately beginning to run: the TARDIS was a formidable source of power: whoever controlled it could destroy planets, open rifts in space and time. Papyrus simply worried if he would ever be able to go home.

"What do you recommend we do with it?"

"It appears to be some kind of travel machine…"

"I say we get off this damn planet."

"I have a much better variation on that…"

Eventually, the duo reached the river bank- the steps were dangerously slippery. Suddenly, the Doctor realised this hadn't occurred in a day: there was a rusty 'Ice on Steps: Take Care' sign beside the stairs. It really was an ice age…but…he knew the psychic network had taken them there for a reason…what was it?...what was it? Was it primal or intelligent…he hated not knowing…

"So I'm guessing the TARDIS got unloaded here…Taken up onto the street…" the Doctor explained, following the rapidly decreasing tracks. "Escorted by several men- duck!"

Papyrus and the Doctor squatted below the last step, watching as a suited and frosted group charged down the street. However, one instantly noticed them, walking over to them with an incredibly worried look on his face, as though he genuinely cared, the Doctor thought. The Doctor didn't have much respect for army men, safe to say.

"Squad? We've got outcasts." he declared, turning to his group, some of whom just kept marching onwards. However, just one other began deviating from the group. "How'd you get out here?..." she asked, confused, casting a half-suspicious, half-pitiful eye on the pair…the man seemed well prepared, but…for one thing, if this was an alien, how did they get here?...on this broken planet?...

"Basically, we travelled here, our ship got stolen, and we appear to be stuck here." the Doctor explained, in as simple terms as possible while getting up from their hiding place. Standing up to the soldier, quite literally, he and Papyrus tried to establish a sense of leadership. The last thing the Doctor wanted was a soldier of all people bossing them around.

"Come with us." the soldier half-ordered.

"And why should I come with you?..." the Doctor replied, incredibly skeptical.

"We can help you find your ship."

The Doctor was silent.

"I mean, we know where that ship's going. That thing's guarded by practically a whole army. You two can't go in alone."

"I don't want to regain it through violence. I never would." the Doctor protested, Papyrus giving a look that instantly told him that they should probably trust him.

"We're not going to regain it through violence."

Once again, the Doctor was pensive about what to say. Eventually, he said nothing.

With a nagging worry in his head telling him their time was running out, followed the soldier down the bleached streets without a word.

"Doctor, we're all happy to help you get your ship back." the soldier explained, leading the still suspicious Doctor into a tower, adorned with faded symbols and broken sentences of encouragement. Walking in, what seemed to be an automatic door had to be forced open, frost tumbling down from the seam. Inside, the building was filled with more soldiers and some familes, dressed in what the Doctor could tell were stolen coats, blankets and in some cases even paper posters. The Doctor turned to the soldier. "And how exactly do you intend to help?..."

"We'll provide you with all the equipment you'll need, you two." she continued. "And a couple of warm coats."

"You won't need a warm coat for me!-" Papyrus declared in reply, looking incredibly proud of himself. "Being a-"

"Yeah, it's wonderful for you guys, isn't it? Ajaxans, completely unable to feel the cold." the soldier interrupted. "By the way, I'm Eliza. And you are…"

"The Doctor." the Doctor replied, feeling more comfortable.

"And I'm Papyrus-" Papyrus continued, immediately after the Doctor had introduced himself.

"I thought Ajaxan names were unpronounceable." Eliza argued, confused.

"It's a translation of our word for paper."

"Then why aren't you just called Paper?"

Papyrus froze as he realised he'd talked himself into a loophole, but quickly thinking of a suitable excuse, he carried on with the conversation.

"Our language translators accidentally used the…time…portal?...for four thousand years ago-" Papyrus replied, lying through his teeth. Suddenly, he looked sideways and saw the Doctor mouthing and whispering something to him.

"You know…wibbly wobbly. Timey wimey."

The Doctor had to supress a laugh. Honestly, he was just a little bit like this when he was a time tot. All the time, trying to be smart. Well, maybe not just trying. Jeez, Doctor! he thought, catching himself. You've got an ego as big as his sometimes!

"Anyway, away from the pleasantries." Eliza refrained, still smiling. "So basically, our plan is, we've got a ton of technology we could give you to help you get inside the...enemy, I guess, base. And we'll have men to back you up."

"What do you mean…back us up?" the Doctor asked suspiciously, sitting down with Eliza on a wooden crate.

"We'll have men to move in if you two get in trouble."

"You're avoiding the question, what will they do?"

Eliza stayed completely silent, knowing that if she told the truth the Doctor wouldn't agree with it.

"I will make this clear: I'm not going to use violence to get inside this base." the Doctor explained, trying to get his point across.

"Fine! Fine!" Eliza almost shouted. There was no room for pacifists here, she was thinking. No room. It was kill or be killed out there.

"Anyway! Back onto the topic. You guys move in, equipped with all of our special gear. We'll be waiting outside to…create a distraction…if you guys get in trouble in there. When you get to your ship, you tell us." Eliza explained, gritting her teeth in frustration about halfway through.

"Infiltrating a building, then?..." Papyrus concluded, looking incredibly excited.

"Yep."

"Wonderful!" Papyrus exclaimed, punching the air.

"So what exactly is this gear?" the Doctor asked, becoming equally excited at the concept of being loaded up by gadgets. Gadgets were his life! He lived in a gadget!...

Eliza got up, leading them into a back room, where a pile of dusty, rusty and exotic appliances lay unused.

"All this."

"So the life-form-"

"I know how to use it." the Doctor said, interrupting Eliza. By this point, twenty gadgets had been explained while walking over the tops of tranquil rooves. Papyrus had so far claimed all of them for himself, including the grappling hook, the life form detector, the metal-dissolving liquid, one of the two short-range teleporter…everything.

"So basically, here's the storehouse of the opposing faction. You'll want to get straight in, get to the ship, block it off and call us to tell us you've completed the mission."

The Doctor looked at Eliza with a suspicious look.

"You wait here until we come out. Don't attack." he ordered, beginning to step towards the edge of the roof.

"I'll try. But I warn you, you don't exactly have authority."

"I have more authority than any officer."

"Alright, Doctor." Eliza replied.

"Wish us luck!" Papyrus exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear.

The Doctor turned to Eliza, giving her a reassuring smile. Papyrus did the same, winking flirtatiously. Then, they both turned to the edge, readying their grappling hooks and short-range teleporters. And on the silent count of three, they jumped.

"Wooooo!-" they both hollered, turning to each other as they disappeared behind the wall in a flash of light.

Eliza turned to the army that had marched up silently below. Speaking through her walkie-talkie, she waited for Papyrus and the Doctor to be gone.

"Operation Superior Source is a go-go. I repeat, Operation Superior Source is a go."

Almost landing with a thump on the ground, the Doctor and Papyrus hung from the ceiling from their grappling hooks. Already, the Doctor was planning out a suitable route for them to take through the warehouse…one left…one right…another two lefts. Maybe a trip through a lift-shaft, if there was one. Letting go of the hook with his weaker hand, he pointed towards a sign indicating that the more sensitive artifacts were about five floors down, and began swinging back and forth, Papyrus following in suit before swinging across the ceiling like any natural monkey, quickly travelling across the floor.

No-one was in there. Eliza had prepared them well.

Or so the Doctor thought, as two ragtag soldiers stepped into the room and stared in horror at the two strange figures hanging from the roof. Immediately the Doctor could hear the signature crack of guns being loaded, and Papyrus and the Doctor silently agreed that they should-

Run.

No, swing.

Both of them split up in different directions, swining

The guards followed the Doctor and Papyrus, each one going after one of the tresspassers: both were frantically yelling into their walkie-talkies. That's why no-one had stormed the factory, even with their guns pointed at the glass…they'd sent in spies. Those sneaks.

Papyrus was taking careful note of every sign he saw, trying to create a route to get back to the Doctor. Everything seemed to be going alright so far, he was getting his momentum up, getting faster than him-

Snapping of metal.

Breaking of metal.

Gunshot.

Papyrus fell at least 10 metres into a pile of scrap metal- instinctively he tucked in for the fall, trying to focus as much of the weight onto his supposedly indestructible battle body, but still he clutched his leg, and found his glove coming out slightly more red than before. Looking up, he found himself staring straight into the cold eyes of a soldier, pointing a gun straight at him…despite the obvious pain he was in.

"Explain yourself."

Papyrus couldn't find his tounge to speak at all…he was shivering slightly. His mind was racing…what now, what now?-

"Explain yourself." the soldier repeated, moving the gun closer. Immediately a blue bone shot straight through his chest, and he looked down at it in amazement.

"What did you do?..." he asked, glancing at Papyrus then back down again.

"Just don't move." Papyrus answered, getting up and very slowly walking away, holding his hands out in front of him in the same way someone would try and ward off a savage dog.

"It's just a hologram!" the soldier protested, watching as his charge just walked away.

"No, seriously! Don't move!"

"I'm a soldier. That trick will not work on- AAAAGH!-" the soldier replied, collapsing to the ground in pain as soon as he turned to follow. Papyrus looked briefly rather guilty, but then ran from the scene, (limping slightly) hearing the Doctor's footsteps and the whirr of a sonic screwdriver…

At the time all of this was happening, the Doctor was swinging in the opposite direction, expertly avoiding gunshots until-

A roof tile, degraded by the algae of ages, collapsed from above him. The Doctor managed to land perfectly on top of a used washing machine, immediately picking up a piece of scrap metal, wielding it like a sword, waving it like he had once…like with the baseball bat and the Heavenly Host. The bullets flew, the Doctor ducked and dodged, sliding down the pile of scrap with one eye on the slope and one eye on the gun. Glancing around for an exit, he began maneuvering around, the soldier now attempting to break through using the bare force of the gun itself, denting it, damaging it.

Suddenly, the Doctor heard a massive scream through the walkie-talkie. The soldier immediately froze, and, firing the last of the bullets in his gun, ran to help his comrade.

The Doctor ran from the scene as well, turning left, left and right again, finding a working but still rather decrepit looking elevator. Giving the good old sonic screwdriver to the elevator interface, he saw the lift counter slowly counting upwards. Papyrus ran in from the other room, and saw the Doctor's shocked expression.

"Did you do that?..." he asked, concerned.

"I told him not to move, twice!..." Papyrus answered, knowing immediately the Doctor wouldn't appreciate violence…he knew that from the look he first gave him when he revealed his life dream was being in the Royal Guard.

"…alright…" the Doctor replied, before suddenly hearing a gigantic crash from within the elevator shaft. "Clever! Very clever…they've cut us off. They know we're here and they know what we want… Simple solution, though!"

The Doctor forced the doors open, in fact, they practically fell open. Stretching below them was the darkness of an elevator shaft. "Promise not to scream, by the way. Last time I tried this, the companion I was with screamed bloody murder. Then again, she was also originally a piece of stretched out skin on a rack with a face, and probably didn't get too much action in her life."

"Eew." Papyrus stated simply, creating a bone platform. The Snowdin playground didn't have a 'fireman's pole' so he really didn't have much experience. And then there was his leg. Slowly he floated down the shaft, while the Doctor gave him a disappointed look. "Aw, come on!..." the Doctor groaned. "Ya wimp!"

Papyrus gave him a dagger-sharp look. "It's not for no reason!" he explained, showing the Doctor his bleeding legbone. The Doctor looked concerned, as he practically fell down the remaining elevator wire. "Still…" he muttered.

Soon they'd reached the top of the elevator itself, and with a little bit of work from the sonic screwdriver, they'd fallen straight into the elevator, and with one press on the short-range teleporters, they were standing behind all the guards that well…weren't waiting for them. In fact, the bottom level seemed pretty much deserted, apart from a couple of guards, who didn't even notice the two of them behind their human wall.

There it was.

The TARDIS.

The Doctor walked straight into its room, shutting it off and enclosing it by gently moving several large boxes into their entrances.

"Wonderful!" Papyrus whispered, delighted to finally get the chance to escape.

"Not yet. I just have to inform them we're safe…" the Doctor replied, correcting him immediately. "Who knows what they'll do if they assume us for dead." He picked up the transciever and began whispering into it. "We've found the TARDIS."

There was a dramatic pause.

Then all hell broke loose.

The Doctor and Papyrus could do nothing as the leader of the…party?...clan?...tribe?...the Doctor didn't know…gave his speech on a balcony high above London. Him and his TARDIS. He'd let them betray him. He'd let them take their opportunity. The factory was destroyed and so were any guards that were there.

And now, before he got his TARDIS back, his supposed 'helpers' were going to use it first.

"We now have a mechanism to get off this planet!" the leader proclaimed. He had never introduced himself, just taken the TARDIS."...It will be a paid service. One fare to the moon will be $10,000. Today is the start of a new-"

Gunshot.

The leader fell to the ground, and the ice below seemed to seethe with charging soldiers. The TARDIS began to glow as a holographic winch mechanism set up and camoflaged below began to draw it in: the Doctor leapt for it but to no avail. More gunshots. More chaos. There was nothing the Doctor and Papyrus could do anymore, and they ducked into the building they'd come from.

"We've started a war…" the Doctor gasped.

The streets were nearly empty apart from the barricades, but both of them could hear the gunshots and battle cries. "Are you sure this will work, Doctor?..." Papyrus asked, looking at how far they'd have to go.

A guard stepped in front of them. "Who are you?..."

"I'm the Doctor and I'm going to try and stop this war. Tell your fellows to watch the sky at sunset, three days from now."

As they trekked through London, that was what they told everyone.

Night was falling, once again. The Doctor had predicted that the trip would take several days, and he didn't care. It wasn't hard to find shelter even during war: they simply had to walk into a clan's campout and ask to stay.

Papyrus, however, realised something about the war that was being constantly fought all throughout England. He'd seen people falling, seen people kill.

"Doctor, if I had in fact joined the Royal Guard…is this what it would have been like?..." he asked, concerned.

"Yes. This is exactly what it would have been like if you'd succeeded in capturing me and I'd been sent to the capital. My soul would have been taken, the barrier would have been broken and you would've joined the Royal Guard. Then, Undyne would have started a full on war against humanity and you would have been fighting in it."

Papyrus was silent, half amazed at how the Doctor had predicted exactly what would have happened if he'd just taken the simple action of, well, practically killing him, and half shocked at the revelation that…

"It would have been all your fault."

"That's called the butterfly effect, isn't it?..." Papyrus noted.

"That's not the worst of it. Even turning right can end the universe in the right circumstances."

"Oh my god!..."

"That actually nearly happened once."

This banter continued for some time, and in time they both forgot about their troubles, falling asleep among the rest of the soldiers. And in the morning, when one of the soldiers asked what they were doing, out there, all alone, with no weapons…

"I'm the Doctor."

"I'm Papyrus."

"We're going to stop this war for good. Tell your fellows to watch the sky at sunset, two days from now.

One day later, the route the Doctor and Papyrus were taking passed by a plaque on the wall. Just a regular one, commemorating the completion of a building. So far, they'd had no indication of the date, and the ice and snow in the air made it impossible to use the regular smelling trick. Progression might have stopped short and it might be 2500 for all he knew.

But it wasn't.

The year was 2025.

The puzzle pieces clicked into place.

"Ohhhh. No ice age could have started in 9 years, so it must have been artificial...humanity must have tried to halt global warming by creating a global winter but they couldn't control it and it…"

"…snowballed."

Papyrus gave a very sharp glare at the Doctor. "Oh. My. God." he snapped, exasperated.

"Pun completely intended." the Doctor continued, smiling. "Anyway! That adds a new part to my plan…"

"Doctor, once you're done gloating, we might want to get out of the way…" Papyrus replied, pointing down the road. The army they both recognized had betrayed them was charging down the way, and one seemed to notice them and deviate from the group, already beginning her apology.

"Look, Eliza. We've got to carry on…we're going to stop this war." the Doctor explained, interrupting her.

"…Admirable." Eliza commented. The Doctor smiled. Perhaps this was the only thing she could have done. If it was planet wide you didn't have much choice except to be in a war.

"But, in order for this to work, I need you to tell your comrades this: watch the sky at sunset, tonight."

Eliza nodded. "Alright, Professor!" she exclaimed enthusiastically, and ran to catch up.

It didn't take much longer until Papyrus and the Doctor reached the largest car factory in London. He'd calculated it well. It was right next to Cardiff, and a source of enviable greenhouse energy. Shoving the doors apart, he found thousands of frozen cars, all, as the Doctor noted, filled with petrol. All it would take was a simple tweaking of the system and a hooking into the Cardiff rift and it would all be alright.

And sure enough, half an hour later, just as the sun began to set over the warscape, the program was ready. For six months, the cars would constantly emit greenhouse gases and then shut off when the atmospheric CO2 levels were at the level they were before the ice age.

That was the thing that changed.

The Doctor would fix things.

But he didn't want to leave humanity without consequences.

"Papyrus, get ready to run. The whole factory's going to fill up with carbon dioxide. Meet me outside the factory, and put your scarf over your mouth." the Doctor ordered, getting ready to run the program.

"Alright…just don't get into any trouble…okay?" Papyrus replied, his words muffled through the thick scarf.

The Doctor nodded, and hit the Enter key. Instantaneously, every single car began to spurt toxic fumes, the fumes leaking out of the top of the factory. Papyrus stumbled towards the exit of the factory, avoiding the mass of cars. The Doctor stayed there, watching the gas rise. And only when he was sure the plan was working, he ran as well.

"Attack!-"

"What the hell are you doing?-"

"You can't just stare upwards like stargazers while we attack!-"

"What the hell…"

A familiar voice echoed throughout the smoky plain, the Doctor using the same microphone the leader had used.

"HELLO ENGLAND!" he shouted. "THAT CLOUD IS GOING TO RAISE THE CO2 LEVELS BACK TO WHAT THEY WERE AND DEFROST THE EARTH!"

"WHICH MEANS THE WAR WILL END!" Papyrus continued, speaking with vervor he'd imagined for a long time. "WE CAN ALL MAKE PEACE!"

There was silence as the army men stood dumbstruck.

"THAT'S GOOD, BY THE WAY!" Papyrus explained, legitimately wondering if humans really did just want war. The whole army laughed quietly, easing their minds and loosening their view on the pair.

"BUT THERE IS A CATCH!" the Doctor exclaimed, holding up his sonic screwdriver. "WITH ONE TOUCH OF THIS SONIC SCREWDRIVER, I CAN SHUT OFF THE SYSTEM! BUT I'LL KEEP THE SYSTEM RUNNING, IF YOU GIVE THE BLUE BOX BACK!...SO, WHAT DO YOU THINK? DO WE HAVE A DEAL?..."

There was silence. The army men began feeling the warmth on their skin, warmth they haven't felt for a long time.

A leader picked up their megaphone and shouted back an affirmation.

The Doctor and Papyrus walked down from the building, and taking a last few slippery steps across the ice, they walked straight into the TARDIS. They were just about to leave, when the Doctor popped out to make one last statement.

"Thankyou."

Twenty minutes later, Papyrus felt a quiet buzzing in his pocket. Fishing out his phone, he noticed something new added to the largely one-sided text conversation.

"hey, you know that text you sent me about the timeline thing?...i have something to give the doctor."

"Doctor! My brother's got a present for you!" Papyrus exclaimed, making the Doctor look up immediately.

"get the doctor to come into my house. 44 iclyde street, about 4 years from now. don't come out yourself. it'll make it too complicated."

"Four years from now!" Papyrus continued.

"Alright-" the Doctor replied, fishing out the date and time he'd taken Papyrus into the TARDIS out of a junk drawer. "Might be a bit of a bumpy ride-"

"Hang on, old girl!-"


	7. WhoTale: Darker Destiny

The TARDIS landed on Iclyde Street, snow blowing in the air. Once a skeleton of the snow, always a skeleton of the snow, he thought. Checking the date, he made sure he'd landed at the right time before opening the door with a creak.

Sans got up from his couch, and walked to the door…he certainly looked a bit different. The hoodie was gone, for one thing. He'd gotten a little taller.

"oh, doctor. i've been expecting you. so, let's just get to the point." he said, introducing himself.

"Let me guess…something to help us traverse timelines?..." the Doctor guessed.

"jeez. you called it. it's almost like you're a time traveller." Sans replied, smiling. Both of them laughed, just a little. "but yes…you know how your TARDIS was parked behind that pillar in the judgement hall?...welp. i found it. tried to use it. thought i might try and…tell myself not to look into timeline research .and i don't know if you know this, but…i'm a scientist. i kind of took some parts of it for research."

The Doctor gave Sans a very serious look. "That's Time Lord technology and you knew it."

"well, doc, i see what you're getting at. but this research into your time lord technology was kept completely secret."

"Still, though."

"but on the bright side, i spliced together my timeline technology with your TARDIS technology to make this." Sans contiued, holding out a small chip. The Doctor snatched it off him immediately.

"Don't make anything else with it, alright?…but…thankyou anyway. I'll let you know how it works." the Doctor answered, smiling, hoping not to be taken too rudely.

"thanks. now, you'd better leave." Sans replied, going back to his seat. "before this all gets too complicated."

"Not too much longer now, hopefully?" Papyrus inquired, watching as sparks flew from out beneath the TARDIS. The Doctor had been implanting the timeline chip for…how long? Time was very weird in the TARDIS.

"Did I tell you…this TARDIS is the only one in the universe?..." the Doctor explained, looking up at Papyrus, wearing sunglasses. "And anyway, won't take much longer…got it!" The Doctor clambered out and began operating the console, incredibly excited and incredibly quickly.

The TARDIS set off on its journey through the , and nothing seemed to be going wrong, in fact, the ride was calmer than before. Only a couple of lurches was calm by TARDIS standards. Finally, the signature thump that came with landing echoed through the ship, and the Doctor cautiously looked through the door. When you were dealing with alternate timelines, you never knew what you might get…

"We're back underground…" the Doctor commented, gazing out over a silent Snowdin. Papyrus clattered over the grated floor…only now he remembered the nostalgia he had for this place!...the quiet tranqility that came with the night was fully present, the lights were still on as they were. His house was there, right in front of him, and it looked as beautiful…beautiful?...as ever.

"Well, now we're in an alternate timeline, what's going to break the universe and what isn't?" Papyrus asked, still a little nervous ever since he heard about the whole turning right buisness.

"Don't make contact with…yourself." the Doctor answered. Papyrus nodded- that sounded understandable.

The more the Doctor looked about the town, the more it seemed…off. Not creepy or sad just…off.

The whole place was near deserted. Due to there being almost no day and night cycle, the Doctor was confused as to exactly why…he could see a mass footprints going directly towards where he remembered seeing a boatman, but other than that…

There was only a single trail of footprints, leading off into the distance forever, at least, that's how it seemed, in yet another raging blizzard…but he could smell something very….strange in the air. Like…ash. Ash, that was it. Papyrus couldn't quite put his finger on it, but the Doctor recognized it instantly. Licking his finger, he waved it around in the seemingly empty air, bringing it back for closer inspection: and he found a single white particle on the tip. Something wasn't right here. And he wasn't the only one to notice.

"Snowdin's empty. Completely deserted, and it's never deserted…" Papyrus explained, concerned. Subconciously he began following the lone footprints, hoping to find at least one other person in this town…at least some confirmation that the town wasn't deserted. The Doctor followed on behind, trying to catch up while still scanning the area for any clue for what might be going on. He could spy a newspaper out of the corner of his vision, but…he elected to follow.

Papyrus could only see white, a roaring in his ears overpowered any advice from the Doctor. But the white seemed…more white than usual. This was a thicker snowstorm than he'd ever seen before.

Just one thing stood out. Something red, hanging from a snow-coated pine tree.

Something waving in the howling wind.

Something familiar.

The Doctor noticed what Papyrus was running towards too late to save. Dashing towards his companion, hand outstretched, panic in his eyes, realization taunting his mind, he screamed "PAPYRUS, NO!" trying to prevent him from continuing, but to no avail, Papyrus snatching the scarf off of the tree and holding it in his mitten, incredibly curious- the Doctor could hear a rift in space-time being torn briefly wide open.

Feeling his lost symbol, Papyrus was amazed. It wasn't just abandoned, part of it was wet to the touch. And it had been flying there like a flag for so long, white frost had found its way onto it.

Frost, wasn't it?...

Papyrus rubbed the scarf with his warm glove, expecting it to come away immediately.

It didn't.

He tried harder, and harder, slowly realising that it…it wasn't frost. He didn't want to accept it, with every ounce of his strength, but it was the only other option. It wasn't frost.

It was dust.

"Doctor!" he gasped, turning to the Doctor who crouched behind him, who was already shivering slightly from horror. "What happened to…me?!"

The Doctor was completely silent. But, he knew. Why the scarf was wet, why the dust was there. He had no heart to tell him, though.

But they both knew full well what had happened. They just didn't want to accept it.

They sat there for some time. Papyrus was wondering how his…other self…had died…had he tried to fight?...had he run only to be stabbed in the back?...Had he died a hero or a coward?...and…who could kill him?... It almost hurt to think about…his body slowly turning to dust as his life ebbed away. He didn't want to, but…what else could he think about?...

Papyrus slowly got up from the ground, staring in anguish at the scarf. Leaving it to blow on the wind, he began cautiously walking forwards. He'd seen a shadow against the faint sunlight.

It was the shape of a child, hunched over and almost completely still apart from their heavy breathing. Their short hair was buffeted by the wind and they made no attempt to move out from the cold.

The shadow turned, only to back away in what could only be described as true horror.

"Human?..." Papyrus asked, trying to keep his voice down, subconsciously trying to be noticed.

The blizzard appeared to fade around them, and Papyrus finally saw the face of his killer. It was filled with disbelief and fear, their eyes had obvious tear streaks, and her mouth hung open. She looked terrified of him, terrified to her very core. In fact, she was almost crying. From exactly what, Papyrus didn't know, but…either she watched him…be killed…or…or…

He finished the thought there.

"Are you alright?...You look…upset about something or another." Papyrus continued, beginning to hold his hand out to them.

"Papyrus, what are you doing?..." the Doctor asked, looking suspiciously on the human.

"Can't you see, Doctor?..." Papyrus answered simply.

The Doctor fell silent. He'd step in if anything happened, he thought, as he watched Papyrus open his arms a little, as the human stepped closer, closer yet closer. Finally, they stopped, and looked at Papyrus with a look of disgust and anguish.

"Is…is this some kind of sick joke?..." she spat.

Papyrus briefly looked upset, but didn't give up. The human looked more and more frustrated every second, trembling from so many emotions.

"Don't act like you don't know…" she continued, letting the dusty knife in her hand slip out of them and fall into the snow. Papyrus glanced at it, but still…he wouldn't give up…no matter what.

"I…don't know, really…I don't know what you're talking about." Papyrus replied, nervously. The human caught the nervousness, and wrestled with it in her heart. No, he did know. He was just denying it…just like he denied his fear. The last thing she wanted was him coming back to haunt her like everything else. She was going mad. She knew it. How else would she have been able to kill a monster with his arms widespread and wanting to be a friend?...She was mad. Insane…

"Please just leave. D-Don't let me…" the human stammered. Her view began to swim as her eyes filled with bitter tears. She couldn't just leave her sins behind her anymore. She may be being taken over by her inner demons, but…she was still human.

"I…"

"I'm sorry…" she whispered, beginning to weep for all the thing's she'd done. It was like all this time she had been running from everything she'd committed to, and now she'd stopped, and like competitors in a deadly race they had caught up to her. She saw now…finally…she saw now…slowly she began to walk towards Papyrus, trying to hold back the tears yet having no will to wipe them away. Papyrus accepted her into a hug, the hug his other self never received in his dying moments. The human at first thought better of it, but…slowly…just let it all out. If she was to continue…leaving behind this ghost…it would be much better for her in the long run if she let all her feelings out.

After all.

You can't kill a ghost.

But a ghost can k-

She ended the thought there, and released herself. Walking away, she gave a look of goodbye.

"Well…by the way…I know you're not really here…" she said, voice trembling a little.

"I'm not here to stay, if that's what you mean." Papyrus answered, smiling a little in response.

"…Alright. I just wanted to say I'm sorry." she said, smiling a true smile, not the fake one she'd sported for so long. "Now go!" she snapped, turning away.

Long after the human and the pair had parted ways, Papyrus and the Doctor were still silent. The Doctor was contemplating what had just happened. Perhaps, he thought, it wasn't all just black and white. It just…went against his morals. For every villain there was still a glimmer of a…no. It was all part of their plan, he thought and thought he knew as he picked up the wet and torn newspaper reading "GENOCIDE CONTINUES: THE UNDERGROUND FLEES" All part of their plan to get it all out and become truly soulless. It must have been.

And there was Papyrus acting like she'd done nothing.

That was how the other Papyrus died, wasn't it? He died with his arms open, wanting to help this human with so much to hide. And yet, they stabbed him in the back and through the heart with a shaking hand…

"Doctor…you're mad at me, aren't you?..." Papyrus muttered.

"No." the Doctor replied, simply. "I'm just worried."

"…About what?..." Papyrus inquired. "If you're worried about the human-"

Papyrus saw the newspaper, and everything began coming together. This human hadn't just forced all of Snowdin to run, she'd killed them as well. Just one thing came to his mind, instantly.

"Sans! Is Sans alive?!..." Papyrus exclaimed, panicking a little.

"I think so." the Doctor explained, looking sullen. He managed to catch himself and pause before he continued…

"…why else would your scarf be wet?..."

Papyrus was confused for a moment before suddenly realising why. Dabbing the sides of his eyes, he felt a certain sense of guilt for…just knowing another version of his brother was out there, heartbroken. Yet still…he didn't hate the human. He just…couldn't bring himself to.

He'd never truly known hatred.

The human sat by the edge of the churning river. The familiar ice blocks that drifted down this way were gone, leaving it dead.

She couldn't go back from here, could she?...

No more did she have the will to continue. Initiating a battle with…nothing, she could quickly see her LOVE had…dropped. Just a little bit, but it had dropped. LOVE. The ability to distance yourself.

She was losing it. Losing it, by saying sorry. Now she'd done it.

But, she thought, kicking a stone, what would have happened if you kept fighting onwards?...Driven away this ghost and carried on through her dangerous path?

And then she realised something…almost terrifying.

She was losing feeling.

In any other circumstance, if she'd killed her mother then…she'd reset. Immediately. But no, she didn't. She never did, and…

Never would.

Even if she didn't accept it, she was losing feeling, no waves of immediate regret washed over her when she killed anyone. She'd only cried after Papyrus' death because she'd…grown quite close to him in the other timelines…but even if she didn't want to believe it, she was losing all feeling. She'd end up emotionless if she continued. She'd become inhuman and transform into a demon. Trembling, she glanced back at her knife. Every time she killed, she would lose so much…she didn't want to do this anymore. It wasn't such a good idea. It wasn't such a good idea anymore.

She'd…reset.

Yes, she'd reset.

She'd reset now. Not for anyone else. Just for her…and for her only.

"If she's going to continue her genocide, we need to stop her." the Doctor protested, walking slowly toward the icy clearing by the river.

"I have a feeling, Doctor, that she isn't going to!" Papyrus argued back, beginning to get in front of the Doctor, while still keeping an eye out for the human.

"What makes you think that?..."

"You saw her! Something's forcing her to do this, and she didn't really want to kill me! If she hasn't left, then she probably isn't going to continue!"

"I could tell if she was possessed!"

"How?..."

"I can just tell!- Look, let's just get to the point. She's systematically killing everyone she can find, and with a human of that power the entire underground's going to go empty, just like the prophecy said!..."

Papyrus immediately turned, as he heard footsteps behind him in the snow. The human seemed…more eager to show her face now, and the tear marks were gone.

"I've…decided something." she said.

"Yes, human?..." Papyrus replied, acting as friendly as possible, the Doctor acting nervous and showing it.

"I'm going to reset."

The Doctor looked briefly terrified, before realising that…she didn't know what a reset could do. Or maybe she did…but if not, she appeared to be showing genuine regret for what she'd done.

"I hope you can…I don't know. Go back to where you came from, before I reset. Also…by the way…who's that man behind you?...

"The Doctor." the Doctor replied. "I know who you are, though."

"Who am I, then?" the human replied, suspicious of this harsh-sounding Doctor person. Then again, placed alongside Papyrus, everyone seemed…less friendly.

"The one who's been responsible for this genocide. But if you can reset now, then that means you can feel regret and that's good." the Doctor continued.

The human paused, confused. "…Are you my…conscience?..." she finally asked, stepping closer to the Doctor.

"No. But I may as well be a conscience." the Doctor answered, stepping backwards.

"Alright. If you're both…mental constructs…or ghosts…or whatever…then…if you can leave or come back or whatever…before I reset. That would be good."

"Good. Just, don't reset again." the Doctor explained. "It's a complicated space-time reason."

"I'm not even going to come back…" the human replied, looking down out of half-shame. "I've been…put off."

The Doctor and Papyrus walked slowly and carefully back towards the TARDIS.

"Oh…by the way, Papyrus…" the human exclaimed, turning back towards the ship.

"Yes?..." Papyrus replied, popping back out of the TARDIS.

"Do you…still want that date?..."

Papyrus froze, nervous. Still, he was berating himself a little. He couldn't bring himself to think the child had killed many of his Snowdin comrades…they were a broken and depressed child, that was all that mattered. However, he had other reasons for refusing.

"I'll…pass! Reasons, you know?..." Papyrus answered, but still, he stepped out of the TARDIS. The reset screen was open, and the Doctor didn't even seem to mind…as long as it ended, right there and right now.

"I see." the human replied. "You still remember, then?..."

"Maybe?..." Papyrus muttered, unsure of himself.

"Interesting. Interesting….Well. Remember me for that. Not what I did back there…Remember me for the good times we had together…" the human requested, turning away with the Reset screen behind her.

Papyrus closed the door of the TARDIS, and turned to the Doctor.

"See? She's not so bad after all." Papyrus stated, before walking towards the console, without saying another word. However, he couldn't help walking back, listening at the door, just to check if she followed up on her promise. A tiny crack to see through revealed the reset screen open, and she was about to press it.

And she turned to the TARDIS with an expression of total fear, as it began to dematerialize. Her arm was covered by a shadow cast by nothing, and she couldn't pull it away no matter how hard she tried. Papyrus immediately ran over to the Doctor- "Doctor, the human's in trouble, I have to help her!-"

The Doctor said nothing. Papyrus ran straight out the TARDIS doors, the Doctor following only for Papyrus' safety. Papyrus stomped straight over to the human and tried tugging her hand away, but…nothing would work.

"Stop…it…" the human gasped. "Please…don't!..." Papyrus instinctively loosened his grip, wondering if he'd hurt the human. But she still kept gasping, no, screaming at this point.

"Don't you…dare! No, no, no, no, no!-"

Finally, the human collapsed in the snow, shivering not from the cold but from some other force beyond their control. The shadow by now had covered most of their body, and they were wearing that awful fake smile again. Her eyes were closed, and they looked not pain closed or squint closed or even sleep closed…they were closed as if she was dead.

"Human?..." Papyrus asked, leaning over and checking the human's face for any sign of life. Slowly, and robotically and forced, the human's arm crawled over to where her knife lay and gripped it. Papyrus wanted to get back, but…he couldn't…something gripped him and held him back.

And, Papyrus realised, looking over at his left mitten, it wasn't a mental grip either.

Thinking the human was trying to get up, he tried to pull them upwards, but in one swift motion, the human swung the knife upwards, holding it at Papyrus' neck, their smile still frozen. Instantly the Doctor shoved Papyrus backwards and took his place, attempting to hold the human's arm right where it was. "Get back in the-" he began to order, but then the human did something unexpected. Freeing herself easily from the Doctor's grasp, she walked behind him, not even appearing to notice he was there, and walking slowly towards Papyrus instead, holding her weapon straight in front of her.

"Human- no, whatever you are?! I will be forced to defend myself if you…continue advancing."

The entity played with her newfound mouth for a bit, before finally speaking. Tilting her head, she smiled wider.

"Key word, defend. Not kill."

"I-If you're thinking it's because I am a coward, it isn't! I know the human's still there- what have you done with them?"

The human said nothing, only leapt forward, striking downwards in a sweeping arc- Papyrus immediately blocked it with a large bone, the same kind he'd used to fend off the lion in Egypt. The knife clashed with the bone, and slowly it was beginning to crack it as the two of them locked eyes. Papyrus saw hatred and nothing else. The entity saw fear.

"Scared?"

"N-never!" Papyrus replied, remaining brave as he could, even with the bone beginning to give way. Suddenly, he could hear the buzzing of the sonic screwdriver and the knife was…glowing. The Doctor was pointing his weapon towards weapon with a neutral look on his face.

The knife exploded into tiny metal shards. The entity looked disappointed, and stepped back, with a neutral expression planted on a neutral stance.

"Not so powerful now, are you?..." Papyrus noted, beginning to regain confidence.

The human, with unnatural strength, snatched Papyrus' bone club from him.

"Give that back!- What are you even going to do with that?!" Papyrus gasped, creating another one, half-unfazed.

"Everything you would never do." the entity replied, regaining her eerie smile.

The Doctor opened his hand, and Papyrus created yet another bone club directly in the Doctor's palm. The pair took up a fighting stance, and the entity took up hers. This was going to be ironic, wasn't it…it?...it?

With movements becoming more and more fast and spastic every second, the entity attacked with unnatural speed, but the Doctor attacked with his. But it was no use focusing on him. He could withstand temperatures the level of outer space for six minutes straight. The water would not kill him…him…him…Nor would anything else. Her and her friends cursed that fact as one.

But the skeleton would die easily.

And she would make it as dramatic as she c-c-c-could.

It would be easy.

Too easy.

Papyrus didn't seem eager to fight at all. He couldn't…kill…how could he? Before he had dreams to drive him to fight but…now he was fighting one he'd come to know as broken and...no. No, they were NOT innocent. He'd have to keep fighting, show the human and the Doctor as well that he was brave. It was a swordfight. Only the brave came out alive from swordfights. But still, he was being pushed back, back towards the trees…his legs were trembling from the strain.

The Doctor was fighting too, trying every trick in the book to knock her over and keep her restrained, but nothing was working, she was like a mirror, copying perfectly what they were both doing…at the same time. Like a Midnight Entity she'd begun copying faster and faster and was now beginning to get ahead of them. Her movements so alienlike and unnatural, she seemed not to be the one in control. Already she was beginning to push them towards the ice at the edge of the river…they were fighting on the edge now…but…the Doctor could clearly see that the entity was focusing on Papyrus now. Like a lion, going for the weaker of the pack.

If he could force her to focus her efforts entirely on him, it could lead to an easy victory on his part as he caught her off guard.

But that could also end terribly.

The Doctor relaxed his efforts slightly. Only slightly.

The entity had by now pushed Papyrus onto the ice by the side of the river, taking little effort to attempt to destroy this Doctor. Papyrus was all that mattered now! All that mattered! He was everything in the scheme! And yet nothing! Nothing! The ice was cracking around her feet, but that didn't matter, the Doctor was rushing up behind her, but that didn't matter, her limbs were out of control now, but that didn't matter. With a last effort she thrust the bone club straight through the ice, threw it straight at Papyrus like a shuriken, knocking him over. Her mind was going. Everything was fading. She'd have to leave. In a final fit of true madness, as the shadow left her body, she lashed out with all her strength at Papyrus and the Doctor, knocking them- she didn't know! She didn't care!...

All around his boots, the ice was breaking apart. The entity had no weapon, and she simply staggered towards Papyrus, snarling somehow with a smile. Raising her hand shakily in an attempt to attack, Papyrus immediately reinterpreted it as…she was coming back. Breaking free.

"Human?...Can you hear me?...The human I knew?"

"It's…no use…" the human stammered, having difficulty getting their words out. Their speech was almost incoherent, but…regretful at the same time. You…you…are breaking free…the entity thought, trembling. If you keep going like this you'll…no no no no no no No No No No NO NO NO NO NOT YET-

The human collapsed, and Papyrus carefully treaded towards their body over the broken ice. The human was gently breathing and shivering as well. They were alive.

Barely.

"Doctor…I told you something was in control of her." Papyrus said simply, after checking her heartbeat.

The Doctor couldn't say anything to that. He had no idea who had taken control. He turned to leave, hoping Papyrus would follow suit before the human revived by itself. He had a clear idea what happened, though…the human's mind had been temporarily reduced to nothing. She'd wake up with no memory of her experience.

Papyrus got up, noticing the Doctor leaving- then running. Something had…gone wrong. Picking a pine branch from a tree, he dusted it off, and laid it upon the human hoping to keep it warm…she'd wake up thinking it was all just a dream, but…she'd still be affected by it, wouldn't she?...

He left, taking a glance back at the human, whose breathing was getting less shaky. Her eyes flickered open for a moment, rolled back, and closed. Her gentle breathing continued.

What the hell was happening to the TARDIS?!, the Doctor thought, crashing through the snowy ground towards the warped shape. It was pitching and smoking, warping and reverting to its original form. He leapt inside, crashing through a warped door into the TARDIS, Papyrus following slower than he did put still with the same confused look on his face.

It seemed like forever until it stopped.

"TARDIS interface, what's happening?!" the Doctor demanded, mashing at the console. He needed an answer, now. Now.

The TARDIS interface opened…it always took the form of someone he cared about. Understandably, it took the form of Rose. It always did.

"Greetings." she said, introducing herself the way she always did.

"I am the TAR-"

The audio stuttered for at least ten seconds, causing the Doctor to gasp in amazement. The TARDIS interface must have been corrupted.

Suddenly, the figure of Rose began to hiss faintly and turn into static. The Doctor watched in suspense to see if it changed. He had to look down to see its face.

It looked almost exactly like the human they'd seen before, but…different. Their skin was unnaturally pale, except for rosy red cheeks. She wore a smile, and neither of them could tell them if it was friendly or psychopathic. Her eyes bore straight into the Doctor's hearts.

"Greetings."

"I am Chara."


	8. WhoTale: The Fallen Child

The Doctor jumped backwards. His theory was correct, someone had indeed posessed the TARDIS. This had never happened before and he hoped it would never happen again. Ever.

"Who are you and what have you done with my TARDIS?" the Doctor snapped, stepping forward towards the hologram.

"Question One, I just told you. Question Two, we reached a friendly agreement and your old girl let me take the reins." Chara replied.

"The TARDIS would never let someone else take over." the Doctor argued.

"You need not worry that I am malevolent. Then again…I'm not entirely benevolent either…I'll get to the reason why later." Chara answered. "For now, let's introduce ourselves. Oh, wait. I already know who you are!"

"How did you know?..." the Doctor asked, becoming more suspicious.

"The TARDIS gave me the lowdown on you. Your companion I already know about." Chara explained, moving her hologram so she was in front of them both.

"What has she told you?!" Papyrus gasped. "I hope she didn't tell you about the-"

"Date? Anyway. Nice to meet you again, Papyrus." Chara replied, laughing a little. Oh, the TARDIS was a chatty lass. She'd told her everything, including an exact description of the Doctor's face when he'd eaten that spaghetti.

"Anyway…Chara." the Doctor continued. "Why are you here? Why did the TARDIS allow you to take control, and how do I know you aren't the thing that posessed the human?"

"Slow down, old man." Chara said, interrupting him. "Too many questions."

"Old man?...that's not right, is it?" Papyrus noted, confused at everything going on in the blue box right now.

"903 years old."

Papyrus looked at the Doctor in amazement. Did he age as slowly as a monster, or was there some other, more obscure reason?

"Back on the topic. I'm here because I'm a space-time refugee, if you will. I'm not the entity that posessed the human because…just ask me one of those proving questions, you know?"

"You're making us think you're all-knowing, though…" the Doctor inquired, still quite nervous of this inhabitant.

"Not entirely."

"What was the last thing I said to the…thing before it left?" Papyrus asked, unable to think of a better question and better definitions.

"I have no idea." Chara replied. "Go on. You're good at picking out liars."

"She's not lying…" the Doctor concluded. "Look, I don't want anyone posessing the TARDIS for any longer than I have to. But I'm happy to take refugees."

"I haven't answered the other question yet." Chara answered back, with a taunting tone in her voice.

"Why did the TARDIS allow you control?..."

"Because, quite simply, I told her I was the only one that could help you save the universe from total destruction."

"So that's why the Cloister Bell was ringing…" the Doctor gasped, the pieces all coming together. Slowly, he was beginning to trust this strange creature.

"Alright. If you can trust me now, I will attempt to steer the TARDIS myself towards the source of this psychic network, which I believe possessed your friend…"

"Speaking of possession, how did you even get into the TARDIS?..." Papyrus inquired, sitting down with Chara (who couldn't exactly sit down, being incorporeal and all)

"Well…it's a long ballad. I should tell it to you both. If you know as much about me as possible, you will entrust me better, will you not?" Chara replied, sighing.

The Doctor was silent, but he gave a small nod. "I quite like ballads! I once tried to compose one myself." Papyrus answered, getting comfortable with this new being. To be honest…he'd never really met a human like her. All the humans he'd seen, if he didn't count the Doctor as human, were just…fighters. Creatures that loved a battle. But this one seemed friendly, not nesscessarily towards the Doctor but friendly towards him.

"Ha…well…Papyrus, be a little patient. Your story's not over yet. Anyway, I'll begin. Doctor, have you heard this story?...you can go and do your TARDISing over there if so."

The Doctor nodded again, and went over to the console, setting the course. What would make this time different to the other times he didn't know, but perhaps it was something about who controlled the TARDIS. Why would she mention it to him if it wouldn't work?

"Anyway, Papyrus, since you're the only one listening…I'll tell you. I could start it with a once upon a time or an at last, it doesn't matter. But one day, just like the Doctor, I assume, I fell down Mt Ebott."

Chara didn't scream all the way down like the rest after her.

She let herself fall. She'd tried to make it look like an accident. There was always someone watching, wasn't there?

She hit the ground, expecting death. Except…she wasn't dead. Just…badly hurt. Shapes. Shapes was all she could see through her eyes squinted in pain. Someone was coming, and she called out for help. If she wasn't going to die…at least she could…get better.

Try again.

A little monster walked up to her, glancing around. "It sounded like it came from over here…Oh! You've fallen down, haven't you?..."

"Are you okay?" they asked, their voice gentler than the petal of a flower. "Here, get up…"

Putting all her weight on the mysterious figure, she levered herself upright: her left leg was aching terribly, and she had to be supported to even stand, but…other than that, she was unharmed.

"Thank you…by the way…my name's Chara…" Chara gasped, smiling very slightly despite the pain she was in.

"Chara, huh? That's a nice name. My name is Asriel!"

She lied through her teeth, and told Papyrus she tripped on a vine. If she could put her past behind her, she'd gladly take that chance.

"I became very good friends with them. We played a game. We lost the game. And I ended up as a ghost."

"ATTACK, ASRIEL! WE'RE BOTH GOING TO DIE!" Chara screamed, feeling pain coursing throughout both of their bodies.

"No."

"RUN, THEN! PLEASE, JUST DO SOMETHING!"

"And then, a thousand or a hundred or ten years later, a human with the same soul type fell into the underground. I was literally attached to them. They saved the world…"

"Frisk, you've done it! You really did it!"

"Frisk?..."

"Why have you got the reset screen open?"

"DON'T YOU D-"

"And then, they destroyed it. They were the human you saw. I watched as you died, and your ghost came back. Back then, I just thought you were a ghost like me."

"Please…don't kill me…" Flowey stuttered, cowering below the image of the smiling human. The term human, though…by now, it seemed inappropriate. She had the strength and power of what most may call the Devil.

Flowey was torn to pieces.

Chara wept.

She wept for a flower, while the human laughed.

That was it. This would be the end.

"But…I stopped them before they destroyed the humans as well." By now, the Doctor was actually listening…what did she do? How do you stop an all powerful maniac when you are just a child?...

"…No. No, I'm stopping the story here." Chara said, interrupting herself and turning away.

"Chara, you can't! YOU CAN'T! NO!"

"YOU ARE NOT THE ONE IN CONTROL ANYMORE, FRISK! NEVER FORGET! YOU DID THIS! YOU ARE THE ONE THAT PUSHED THE WORLD TO ITS BRINK!"

"Please…Chara…"

"I SHALL NEVER LISTEN TO YOU!"

"I didn't…want this…"

All sound and sensation disappeared as Chara sent an electromagnetic cancelling wave throughought the whole of the underground and the world, feeling her very features melt from the strain and determination…

It was the end.

And she didn't regret it ONE BIT-

The TARDIS was silent. Chara was silent, and Papyrus didn't even try to get her to continue. Even he could sense Chara didn't want the information disclosed.

"Well…anyway. If you…really…want me to continue. Long story short. I fixed things. And then they were broken again. Eventually…they stayed broken. The human took my power and kept me imprisoned." she finally said, sensing everyone staring at her and distrusting her just like way back then.

"Give in, Chara. Give me what I desire." Frisk begged, floating in midair, practically dripping with pride.

"No." Chara replied, with the same stubborness Asriel had displayed back then.

"I can heal your wounds."

"No."

"I will set you free."

"Still no."

"That is a promise! And you know what I do to people who don't keep promises."

"Please stop it…you're hurting me-"

"Do you think I care?..."

"But, eventually, someone created a rip in space time large enough to set me free." Chara continued, her leftover anxiety from the past fading.

"I have you to thank for that, Papyrus."

"Me?" Papyrus gasped, looking incredibly chuffed.

"The Doctor told you not to make contact with yourself…the dust on your scarf counted as yourself, even if it wasn't alive anymore. That created a rift allowing me to escape into the Time Vortex…"

Chara heard spacetime ripping behind her: all in a second she saw it: Papyrus was there, sometime in the past, holding his scarf, she gasped in relief and fell through the crack.

"Goodbye."

"NO! NO! _**NO!"**_

She was falling. Her soul was tearing apart, but at least she died free…they'd never find her now…unless…

She collided with a mysterious blue box.

"I have a feeling." she muttered to herself. "This could help me in my scheme quite a bit…"

"I met the TARDIS' soul – lovely girl, by the way. I understand why you call her sexy. And we made an agreement that for a brief time I'd take control of the TARDIS. After that I'd either leave this world or perhaps find a vessel. Probably the former…" Chara continued, making the Time Column rise and fall as demonstration of her power.

"So you're here to help?" Papyrus asked, grinning with hope.

"Well…the thing is. The thing that's been keeping you from getting to the entity you fought back there is a barrier. But if she sees my soul is controlling the TARDIS, she'll let us through. Because the one thing she needs is an eighth soul to further add to her power…one problem, though."

Chara revealed her soul, or what was left of it. It was a midly heart-shaped shard, glowing feebly.

"My soul's unrecognizable as mine. The shards were probably shattered across time and space, and if we can put them back together, we'll be let through." Chara explained.

Papyrus nodded. "…So…what's it like to have such a small soul? Do you feel any different?"

"Not really." Chara replied. She left the scene.

"But…sometimes…" she muttered. "I wonder if I'm still human…"

"You're going to let her stay?!" Papyrus gasped, after a long conversation…or perhaps argument… with the Doctor.

"Yeah. She's just a child, after all." the Doctor replied, asking Chara to set the course for her soul piece. "Come to think of it, I've never had a holographic companion before. I've had other aliens and robot dogs, but never a hologram."

"Robot dogs?" Papyrus asked. If he had ears, they would have pricked up.

"Yep. My one was called K9…left the last one with my companion Sarah Jane after we defeated a school full of aliens disguised as teachers."

"Krillitanes..." Chara commented, starting to pilot the TARDIS.

"She told you everything, didn't she?..."

"She had all the time in the world. Again, I see why you call her sexy." Chara replied, feeling at ease.

"So that's why you were initially reluctant to date me…you already had a girlfriend!" Papyrus concluded, raising an eyebrow.

"It's not like that…" the Doctor replied, laughing a little. "It's really not like that."

"Oh, but I'll tell you who is his girlfriend..."

"Don't.

Chara watched the conversation play out in front of her. Had she talked enough?...

Never mind…she checked the console to see where she had been going- she should have checked that first- and to her surprise, it was no other than Exor 3, home planet of the Ajaxans, one of the few races in the universe that appeared to be skeletons and nothing else.

Papyrus would fit in perfectly there.

Except, triangulating the source gave quite an unfortunate answer. The soul fragment was captured within a building right in the capital. They'd have to commit a robbery to get her soul back.

If she wasn't incorporeal, she'd get it herself. She didn't want to put anyone else in danger. Not ever again. She wanted this to be a new start, and…

Why wouldn't it be easy to forget your past when your past was so terrible?..

"Doctor, the Ajaxan race are an honorable species, are they not?" she asked, keying in the code to send a direct audio message to the Ajaxan government.

"They're not exactly honorable." the Doctor replied, double-checking their course. "Almost certainly, they're not gonna give it out to anyone…"

"I mean, I guess we could just ask really nicely…" Papyrus suggested, shrugging. "If these aliens I'm always being mistaken for aren't even 'honorable' enough to give a soul back to its owner!...Well, I feel almost insulted!"

"The universe isn't as innocent as you think." Chara noted.

"We've got a plan." Chara stated, turning to Papyrus. "If there's one thing I can do well it's making plans. Mostly because I have the massive intelligence of the TARDIS in my mind."

"…Fascinating!" Papyrus replied, attempting to sound as smart as Chara made herself out to be.

"Fascinating indeed. No-one's ever possessed a TARDIS before, I don't think. You're the first one to do it, and definitely the first to take complete control of the TARDIS." the Doctor continued, not looking up from the console. It seemed Chara was still getting the hang of it, and they were gently floating, rather than tumbling, through the Time Vortex.

"I do have a feeling it will not be the last. Oh, if you are not informed of this: I think the TARDIS chip actually has tracking technology inside it. You're being kept on tabs by...well, no-one really at this point." Chara answered.

No-one seemed to notice the TARDIS landing, except for Chara.

"*ahem* We've landed." she declared. "Also, you left the handbrakes on."

"I like them on!" the Doctor protested.

"Alright. Everyone's got different opinions, anyhow." Chara replied, ending the conversation there as the Doctor opened the TARDIS doors. They were greeted by a glare of intense sunlight, sunlight reflected off the snow so perfectly the Doctor thought for a second they'd landed on Midnight. So this was Exor 3! He'd been there once before when he'd heard rumors of war breaking out there, but he'd never seen the outside of the main city. It was…beautiful.

He hadn't adressed the elephant in the room.

Papyrus was taking gigantic leaps across the icy surface, almost flying through the air. Exor's gravity was about half that of Earth, and that meant the height of both their jumps was doubled as well.

"Careful, you two. Jump too high and you'll go straight into the path of those katabatic winds I can see coming." Chara noted, floating high above them. Over the horizon, which wasn't that far due to the fog - she and the rest of the group could see the faint white line of a monorail train's elevated track, and the train was nearly pulling in.

"As the Doctor may say, run."

Papyrus was looked on rather strangely by Exor's inhabitants. As some might say on the positive end of the remark spectrum, he had quite an avante-guarde dress sense. On the other end, he looked stupid. Everyone else on the crowded train was wearing clothes halfway between Time Lord and regular human. No capes.

"I thought you said I'd fit in here." Papyrus whispered, trying not to let Chara hear.

"Probably should've thought this out." the Doctor whispered in hushed reply.

"That's an understatement." Chara continued. "Although judging by your previous adventures, you don't plan much, do you?..."

"Makes no sense in my opinion…I mean, look at us! We hardly plan at all and end up with not a scratch…" Papyrus replied.

"I hope you didn't mean that literally." Chara continued, interrupting Papyrus, taking a look at the scar on his leg, the one he…proudly sported?...that didn't make sense to her.

"Anyway. And then, when I plan for…a month on end preparing for the arrival of a human, I end up with complete failure! Of the original plan at least."

The train came to a silent stop, and the train bustled with activity as people left for the large Ajaxan city awaiting them. Papyrus, the Doctor and Chara ran, walked and hovered respectively towards the exit, excited for what might be awaiting them. To the Doctor's expectation, it looked very much New York of the Earth. Or more accurately, like New New New York. Or New New New New New New New York.

"When I said we had a plan, I meant we found a map of the place." the Doctor explained.

"Perhaps we could ask the locals!" Papyrus suggested, making a gesture suggesting there was so much to see in this shining city.

"I guess? Maybe we can find out why they're giving you strange looks." Chara replied, leading the group towards a suitable resturant to rest and think at…it was also in very good view of the building in which her soul was contained. Crowded, but alright.

If there was one thing Chara hated, it was strange looks.

"It says it's spicy, but it doesn't say how spicy…" Papyrus noted, looking at the menu while the Doctor took a general scan of the area, with some added input from Chara. Being a hologram, she was naturally very good with technology…

"Oh, hello?...do you mind if I take this seat?"

Papyrus looked up from the digital menu to see a female Ajaxan, dressed in lavish-by-his-standards black clothes.

"Every single other one's taken…sorry if I'm invading your privacy or something?..."

"No, I don't mind a bit!" Papyrus replied. Quietly in the background, Chara was facepalming. This was going to end badly, wasn't it? In other words, it was going to end in a date.

"Nice. By the way, I'm Bravada." Bravada answered, introducing herself before going back to her newspaper. The small headline showed something interesting: new power source found, signs of sentience found within. Bravada scoffed, and Papyrus leant over to see what she was scoffing about, with no idea that it was impolite. Immediately, he beckoned the Doctor and Chara over to see.

"That's a part of my friend's soul, I'll have you know!" Papyrus exclaimed. Chara quietly hovered beside him, not exactly wanting to speak. All she did was reveal the shard that was left of her soul.

"My god." Bravada replied, simply, glancing at the page and back to the glowing red shard in her hand. "Yeah, I have a big problem with it too."

"You've got a big problem with it? I'm the one with a quarter of a soul." Chara retorted, feeling awkward. "That's why we came to this planet in the first place."

"Jeez. Oh, um…just...wondering, if we're going to look further into this…we could do a proper introduction." Bravada requested.

"I'm the Doctor." said the Doctor. "And if we're planning a break-in, I'm the one with the sonic screwdriver."

"I am Chara. I'm the one who's an incorporeal hologram with a quarter of a soul."

"I'm Papyrus! And…well…the Doctor thought, why not take me back to my home planet while we're at it! I am his companion, after all…"

Bravada gave him a confused look. Papyrus didn't know exactly why.

"Well, if you are planning a break-in…which should hopefully be a last resort, then we may need to do a bit more planning than I've already done." the Doctor continued. "If you want to help, then go on. That's fine. It's just I get into an awful lot of trouble whenever I leave the TARDIS, so…yep."

"Hell yes, I want to help. I've been opposed to this ever since the soul got delivered. Not just because of the possibility of literal power source betrayal. The damn thing's showing signs of sentience. That's basically like…I don't know. It's just immoral by my standards." Bravada answered.

"Pika-power's what you're thinking of." the Doctor replied.

"What." they all said at the same time.

"Term from an anime on Earth. Quite like it, except for that absurd coma theory."

"Well…if you guys like, I could take you back to my apartment and we can plan. I've been waiting for ages to assemble a complete team to lead an assault, physical or otherwise on the soul power mechanism." Bravada explained. "And it's always nice to see a new…Ajaxan…in the neighbourhood!"

Bravada's apartment looked bigger on the inside. The whole thing was covered in leaflets and pamphlets for the Free the Soul campaign.

"Sad thing was, I had plently of initial support when the soul was used for around a quarter of the city's power, but when they realised it could be used for 100% of the power, I lost all support." Bravada described, picking up a particularly colourful one, with research notes stapled to it.

"What?!" Chara gasped. "That'll drain it's power if it goes on for much longer!"

"Interesting. We've got a time limit then…So, did you ever plan to storm the building?" the Doctor asked.

"Once." Bravada replied, changing out of her formal wear, into something that looked a bit more like a cat-suit. "The idea didn't sell well with my team. But hey, at least you lot have motivation!"

"More like self-preservation." Chara corrected, now noticing her slowly growing weakness.

"More like determination!" Papyrus corrected again, this time a lot more optimistically. Chara looked at him, bearing a weak smile. "Honestly?" she asked, finding it impossible not to have the same optimism leak into her own voice.

"Anyway…do you guys have a hotel booked, or…anything?" Bravada asked, still laughing a little for no real good reason.

"Nope."

"Care to stay at my place for a bit?" Bravada suggested, turning the TV on. It looked primitive compared to everything else they'd seen, but it would look incredibly lavish on Earth. "At least, while I work out the plan."

"I could help?" Chara proposed, hovering nearby the cluttered coffee table.

"Guess so. Although how a hologram could help, I'm not sure." Bravada answered. Chara didn't make any response to that, except for a tiny look of disdain.

"Only joking. Heard you're good at math, though."

Chara had heard those words one too many times. They were normally followed by a laugh.

"I guess…I guess I am." she replied, going back to what she'd been tasked to do.

Only Bravada could actually tell when they'd stopped preparing. By that point she'd left them to it, but the trio were still planning away... By planning, that meant Chara and the Doctor were constantly competing over which door would give them a strategic advantage, while Papyrus was arguing with both of them saying that going in via the doors would be boring, and he was also flirting with Bravada at the same time. Subtly. Well, subtle for Papyrus, at least.

Eventually, Chara began to lean towards Papyrus' point of view, and said that they were going to be stuck in a rigid mindset if they argued much longer. The Doctor, after seeing the extent of Papyrus and Bravada's plan, improved by Chara's input, agreed to get in via a window. By any means. They didn't know how yet though: by sonic screwdriver or short-range teleporter or anti-gravity motorbike, they had no idea.

At last, the Doctor fell back on the plan to have little to no plan at all.

"Well, this is the Exor 3 – 1 Power Station. The soul's contained inside." Bravada concluded, the three of them standing at the foot of a gigantic tower.

"So we'll get in via psychic paper, and get through the rest of the building peacefully until we get into the more heavily controlled area…" the Doctor continued.

"Then I shall fight off the guards that will inevitably come! I will happily take my role as a warrior!..." Papyrus replied. "A peaceful one. Then again, how do you become a peaceful warrior?..."

"Don't look at me…" Chara answered. "Oh, yes. Once we reach my soul, the highest level of security alerts will of course activate, and thus I will cause a complete power outage across the entirety of the city or possibly Exor 3 itself."

"Whoa." Bravada replied, giving Chara a look of amazement.

"I do love causing a little chaos." Chara explained. "Sometimes it's my idea of fun."

"Well…shall we charge on in then?" Papyrus asked the group, buzzing with excitement.

"Hell yes, knight in shining armor." Bravada replied.

"Guess so." Chara answered, shrugging.

The Doctor grinned, and led the group further and further forward.

"Allons-y!"


	9. WhoTale: The Cyborg Planet

The office setting was rather lively, now that four new visitors had walked into the very much by-the-book building. There was a human, a 'hot chick', a hologram with a death stare, and…well, just Papyrus.

"Um…Doctor?..." Chara muttered, tapping the Doctor on the shoulder before realising she was incorporeal.

"Yeh?" the Doctor replied, noticing her anyway.

"They're putting up the security systems." Chara answered, nervously.

"Putting up the security-!" Papyrus began exclaiming in disbelief, before Bravada gave a him a look to shut up. "Putting up the security systems?!" he continued, stage-whispering at this point.

"They know we're here…" Bravada and the Doctor said in sync.

"Don't always assume the obvious…" Chara hissed quietly, saying nothing more when they turned to her.

"Indeed! We must be optimistic, and assume the best is going to happen!" Papyrus continued, misunderstanding her and supporting her at the same time. Chara turned to him, and gave him a weak laugh and a smile. "I wasn't being optimistic…but…alright."

Optimistic, she thought, turning the word over in her head until she remembered something, or rather someone, she associated with it.

She left the room smiling for once.

"John Smith, health inspector." the Doctor explained, walking up to one of the more exclusive sections.

"And them?"

"We're all health inspectors."

The guards said absolutely nothing, and let them pass into the hallway. The hallway was covered in windows out onto the city: it seemed a popular place for workers on break, and the room strongly smelled of coffee. Spaceships glittering with sunlight grazed the glass, and Papyrus felt…taken back. Back to that time he was standing with the Doctor up against the glass, watching the universe flow past without them.

Chara watched the movement, and felt…fascinated…almost. A world so lively in a world of memories that were devoid of life. She gave the Doctor an appreciative look. Even after everything she was tainted with, she gave her a new life, even if it was as just a hologram hovering in the empty air, broken and tattered, still with a metallic tang to her broken voice.

…did he know, she wondered?

She hoped not.

Bravada gave a quick glance around them, to see if no-one was looking towards the elevator. The clock had hit 12:30, and everyone should be going to the canteen in around…5 minutes? The corridor was emptying quite quickly. She hadn't worked here much. She'd taken a job as a temp but got fired when they found out her true intentions.

The corridor was bare.

"Hey, Doctor!" Bravada whispered, taking the sonic screwdriver out of the Doctor's pocket and pointing it straight at the elevator: the doors hissed open, revealing, as she hoped, an empty elevator beckoned them inwards, and the group stepped inside, all except Chara, who wished to travel without human aid.

"I'll have that back, thankyou very much-" The Doctor demanded, regaining his sonic screwdriver. "That's Time Lord technology, not to be messed with."

"Time Lord?..." Bravada gasped, having heard of the Time Lords only in legend. "Whoa…"

"Yeah. Definitely not to be messed with…"

"So why did you let me use it?..." Papyrus asked, raising an eyebrow to the Doctor.

"…Life or death situation. I didn't hand you the sonic screwdriver for no good reason, you kn-"

The elevator stopped in its tracks, with a gigantic clunk. Chara immediately zoomed downwards through the elevator to tell everyone what happened, but they'd already noticed, as usual. And not only that…sirens were blazing in the background. The Doctor began attempting to force the top of the elevator off, buzzing at it with the sonic screwdriver, while Papyrus began tapping at the 'Alarm' button to no effect. Chara stayed in the background, watching as Bravada attempted to force the doors open with a crowbar that she handily…very handily…had stored in the bag she brought. With everyone occupied but her, she only managed to force out an "Um…" before falling silent.

Papyrus turned to her anyway. "Yes, Chara?...What idea do you have now?"

"I think they know we're here. Sorry to be a broken record, by the way…but we should probably focus not on getting out upwards…because, they have probably stopped us so we can catch us, and they will be coming from the upper levels, which is where most of the guard is, so we should thus get out downwards, instead of upwards…"

Chara had been looking downwards as though at cue cards, but when she looked up to see the entire elevator in silence and all of them staring at her, she stopped short.

"Irrefutable logic, Chara!" Papyrus finally exclaimed. Chara responded with a nervous laugh that seemed less nervous and more releived.

"She's right…" the Doctor muttered, turning to the rest of them, and crouching on the floor, changing his tactic. "Also, Bravada, how do you just happen to have a crowbar?..."

"That's my little secret…" Bravada whispered.

"You can tell me!" Papyrus replied, attempting to be flirtatious. Chara smiled…how resilient he was, getting back up from the figurative hole of dating failure. He'd probably fail catastrophically, though. Bravada refused to tell him, only smiling with equal flirtation. Suddenly, as the Doctor was just beginning to pry the bottom of the elevator off, everyone felt a massive thump as the elevator began flying upwards.

"Oh my god…" the Doctor gasped, feeling literally uplifted.

"Don't tell me that they've worked out our little trick…" Bravada groaned.

"All we'll hopefully have to do is run! That always works, doesn't it?" Papyrus replied, walking across the one loose piece of floor the Doctor had nearly detached. Immediately, it collapsed out from under him, and both his legs shot straight through, and a grating of his battle body on metal echoed throughout the elevator. Everyone immediately turned around, and breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that Papyrus was firmly wedged in the gap- Bravada began attempting to help him out- he denied it- "I'll do it myself, thankyou!"

He'd come out alive, with the near loss of one boot, and several large scratches on his battle body. Chara immediately looked at it with amazement. "You cast that yourself?!" she whispered, fairly loudly.

"Well…yes! Of course!" Papyrus replied, fitting his large red 'ug' boot firmly back on. A couple of scratches he could deal with. The loss of a boot he couldn't. For one thing, he'd chosen to wear the bunny socks today.

Chara turned, and saw what abyss Papyrus had nearly fallen into.

"All I'll say is…I hope no-one here is afraid of heights."

The view of Exor 3 was rapidly receding out from under them, and it didn't show any signs of stopping.

"Chara! Chara, go outside the elevator, tell us what's happening!" the Doctor demanded, looking for a possible escape. Chara phased straight through the elevator walls, observing the entire top portion of the building rocketing into the sky. It was surrounded by a pulsing blue light, which she reported back to the Doctor, phasing back instantly back into the group.

Everyone watched the hole in the elevator with baited breath, until suddenly, the entire elevator went pitch black, and the movement suddenly stopped. Bravada immediately began to force open the door, and succeeded- the doors shot open, and everyone began scrambling out. The entire ship had gone dark…drained and devoid of power and connection, the soul stopped delivering power. Chara suddenly recoiled out of relief.

"It's gone…" she gasped. "It's gone…it's gone…"

"What's gone?" Papyrus asked, turning to Chara with a…genuine look of concern, even though nothing was wrong.

"The connection…it's gone…You never know…what's wrong with you until…it's gone." Chara explained, smiling and exhaling deeply.

"You mean your soul's not being used for power?" Papyrus inquired, eyebrows raised. "Wonderful! Now all we have to do is go and get it!"

"Sounds like an alright plan." Chara replied, approving of the predictable plan.

"Question is…how do we go about it?" the Doctor asked, walking down the blacked out corridor.

"By any means nesscessary." Chara replied, hiding her eyes.

"We should probably have spent quite a lot longer planning this…" Bravada muttered. "But, Papyrus tells me that's basically your life…how the hell do you even do it? I'd have to plan for days whenever I would do something on this scale."

"It's the extremes, really. Sometime's I've got moves planned for centuries, made friends as movements in a gigantic chess game, sometimes I wing it. Sometimes I don't even know…" the Doctor replied, catching Papyrus' attention.

"You always act so enigmatic!" Papyrus noted. Chara smiled a little, then replied without even turning to Papyrus: "You think he's enigmatic?...You haven't seen anything yet…"

The café, even after all this chaos, still smelt quite beautiful. The very mixture of scents just screamed…VIP. Precious few people were hiding out there, who immediately ran and hid in the back rooms for fear of who-knows-what, despite the welcoming atmosphere. The Doctor stole a mint from the bowl that was lying there temptingly. Well, not just one. Maybe two. Or three. Or maybe ten.

Granted, he didn't eat them all at once.

Chara took a deep breath in, not caring about the atmosphere…oh, to smell! She'd almost forgotten what it felt like…she'd gotten used to all the scents either being salt or dust. But this?...

Oh yes.

"Do you smell that?..." Chara asked Papyrus, looking towards the abandoned counter, and both of them took a brief sniff of the air.

"Chocolate!"

"Vanilla…" Papyrus sighed.

"You were supposed to say chocolate." Chara explained. "Like in…no, you wouldn't get it."

Papyrus and Chara smiled at each other. The Doctor had overheard the conversation- and he had smiled as well. Chara didn't notice, however, and thought that they were in their own little chatter, until the Doctor noticed footsteps clumping down the corridor. He immediately stepped forward, meeting eye to eye with a soldier in a cultish-like dress.

"Welcome to the Café du Complete and Utter Chaos, how may I serve you…" he babbled.

"Who are you to mock us?" muttered the soldier, stepping forward…they even seemed to possess ancient-looking weapons. Ancient yet crammed with technology.

"I'm the Doctor, who the heck are you? Nice spear, by the way. Sonic device combined with an old but very effective weapon…" the Doctor replied, still as casual as ever.

"We recognize you, then!"

"Yeah…" the Doctor answered, wondering what would come next. "So, you've met me before? So…bring me back down Memory Lane?"

"We are the Legacy of Queen Xanxia!" the soldier explained, with authority that could only come of someone fully dedicated to their cause.

"Queen Xanxia!…" the Doctor gasped. He'd encountered this being before. She was long dead, aged to death as the time dams holding her in one point in time failed, but her legacy, as they called it, was still dedicated to farming as much energy as possible, possibly to attempt some bringing-back-to-life-of-an-infinite-dark-lord trick.

"So, I'm guessing that giant planet in the sky is Zanak MK II?…"

"You what?!" Bravada gasped, rushing immediately to the window, and beheld utter chaos in the city below.

There was a gigantic crowd, assembled in the streets of Exor 3 as they watched a huge planet hover in the sky. Some were already rushing back to their homes as they feared the worst, some children were blissfully unaware of the danger that the planet held deep within.

"We shall revel in the glory of the rebirth of the Infinite Xanxian Empire, ruled by our resurrected leader!" the soldier recited.

"Question is…why have you taken this building, just the one?" the Doctor asked, interrupting the soldier's speech.

"Is it not obvious, Doctor?"

The Doctor immediately realised it was: the SOUL, the somewhat infinite power source! (How powerful were those barrier-creators?, he wondered.) He felt the quiet hum of a hologram moving.

"How curious. You seem to have misunderstood." Chara whispered in a mildly seductive voice, moving closer to the two soldiers. "To be specific, you have misunderstood the meaning of SOUL. That is the very esscence of my being you intend to steal-"

"Wrong tense." the soldier corrected. Chara's face twisted, she hated being corrected, especially on something as simple as grammar.

"You have stolen it." Chara continued, disappointed.

"Indeed."

"Very well." Chara replied, satisfied somewhat with the conclusion. "Take me to your leader."

"What do you intend to do?" the soldier demanded.

"Negotiate." Chara answered, conscisely.

"We shall allow you through on the orders of the Queen. The rest shall be taken prisoner on our ship." the soldier agreed, nodding robotically. Bravada's eyebrows raised and for once she looked actually scared. Papyrus got ready to run, and the Doctor waited with baited breath for Chara's objection.

Chara stood blank of face. She could read their expression, telling their intentions.

"Oh, do whatever you want with them."

The Doctor, bound and gagged by guards that had come in on all sides, wriggled upright. The other two were knocked out…and as he gained his bearings, they saw where they were: on the ship, as promised, in a cell that was probably improvised. Faintly, he could hear the cries of the other prisoners. Shaking the rest awake, he observed the area.

"What the hell?..." Bravada muttered. "Papyrus?...Doctor?...Cha-oh my god!"

"Bravada?...My god, what happened…" Papyrus gasped in reply.

"Oh my god, Chara! Doctor, your 'friend', Chara! She's betrayed us!"

The Doctor remained silent, unsure of what to think. The last words he heard before being taken …sounded so psychopathic in nature, it was hard to pass it off as an act.

"…I'm sure she hasn't!" Papyrus argued, voice a little muffled, but managing to shake the gag off, he turned to Bravada, with that optimistic smile on his face. Bravada looked briefly disappointed, before her voice turned to mild anger.

"How else do you explain it?" Bravada replied, then trying to act as calm as possible.

"Maybe it was some kind of bluff! Or trick!..." Papyrus explained, managing to get his arm free.

"Still doesn't change the fact we're locked up…oh, right! Got that sonic screwdriver, Doctor?"

The Doctor, who'd already gotten free, fished his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and found to his despair that the door was deadlocked. He gave a look of 'sorry, mate' to the other two prisoners.

"You are kidding me…" Bravada groaned, who had struggled free as well, and was already trying to get Papyrus out of his bonds- due to his height, he wasn't able to untie his legs…he denied her help, again, this time a little more apologetic. "No, I'll be fine…see! I've got it!"

The three of them peered out the tiny opening in the door, wondering what trick, beneficial or otherwise, Chara had pulled on them.

"Queen! We have brought a challenger who claims the right to the human soul."

The generated hologram of the beautiful Queen Xanxia turned around, witnessing her challenger: a little girl, innocent-looking as could be.

"Hello, little girl. Chara, was it not?" she tittered tauntingly, and pronouncing it wrong.

"It's pronounced 'Kara', as in Character." Chara corrected.

"Yes. Because you're a right character…Let's get to the point. Can you prove that this legendary power source is yours?"

"I can. But I have a feeling such power should not be in your hands anyhow."

"Who are you to order me?...You don't realise what I intend to do with your soul. Don't you want one more person in the universe alive and happy?...I'll regain my memory. Right now I'm just an imperfect copy. I'm not alive. Don't you want to save someone?"

Chara froze.

"Stop it." she whispered under her breath. "You do not know what I can do."

"Oh, do I not?" Queen Xanxia replied, tilting her head.

"I can do this."

Instantly, a signal was sent through Chara's soul, now intergrated into the Zanak network, opening a door in Chara's mind to where Papyrus, Bravada and the Doctor were located. Their door instantly clicked open, and she turned back to the Queen, a smug look on her face.

"Well, I wasn't expecting that." Queen Xanxia muttered. "Still. They are nothing!"

Bravada had started trying to force the door open, while the Doctor tried to modify his screwdriver: he'd needed to do this for a long time. Suddenly, Bravda fell straight through onto the floor, and began scrambling away incredibly quickly, Papyrus following in suit. Casting an eye to the rest of the prisoners, he ran onwards, making a mental note that he'd be the one to free them.

The Doctor simply wondered who exactly opened the door, as they dashed straight out of the room, heading directly for the headquarters: and, as he'd learned from a certain adventure on Messaline, going the least likely route would often end up the best. They were going to the surface of Zanak II.

The Doctor, expertly leading the party through the soldiers on guard, snapped his eyes left and right looking for an exit- finally, he found one, and immediately he led everyone up onto the surface

Zanak certainly looked different.

Gone was the natural environment he'd known in his fourth incarnation. Xanxia's legacy had made the planet almost cyborg-like: covered in grassland and metal. And…the Mentiads were gone. The Doctor felt quite regretful: his heart sank whenever he was forced to watch an incomplete victory. Papyrus immediately ran out into the wilderness, Bravada following behind, asking the Doctor where they might be heading. The Doctor responded simply with the words 'follow the screwdriver' and held up the device, letting it buzz in his hand. He'd hacked into the TARDIS data showing where her hologram was located, and now it was like a beacon, showing him exactly where Chara was…

Chara had been waiting for far, far too long…she could feel a buzzing in her chest: source, sonic device, action taken: locate. They were coming for her. A horrid mixture of relief and dread rose in her heart. What if they just wanted her soul? What if the Doctor knew? What if they thought she betrayed them? What if? What if? WHAT IF?

"Queen Xanxia, if you will allow me to take my soul back, I will leave this planet peacefully. There are greater sources of power in the universe, such as…black holes?" she suggested, knowing she was lying. No power in the universe was as infinite as the human soul.

"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." Queen Xanxia retorted, turning away and grooming her vanity. "Besides, don't you want to save me?"

"No." Chara replied, attempting to sound Determined, and succeeding.

"Don't you want to save at least one person in your life-"

The Queen smiled as she saw infinite guilt on Chara's face.

"-instead of killing being your only achievement?"

"Be quiet." Chara hissed. "Do not say one word more!"

"I am mildly psychic…took my skills from the Mentiads. What you have achieved is at the forefront of your mind, every day, and forever. All I shall say is…even I am unimpressed." she replied.

Chara felt a tear of pure shame fall into her eye. She blinked it away, and, after staring at the Queen in silence fractured by frantic thoughts, she connected her fragmented soul with the connected fragment, sending a wave of power through the systems. So desperately she wanted to rip the soul out of the mechanism, and yell at Queen Xanxia until she regretted everything she'd done to it, and regretted probing into her fortess of her mind. She couldn't.

"I can shut off the power to this entire system, killing your simulation forever." Chara threatened. "This will be the last time I warn you."

"Oh, it won't." the Queen replied. "I can sense a fear of your own strength, just like both your friends."

"Well, I don't have that fear anymore-" Chara replied, lying to herself as always. Nevertheless, she imputted a burst of power through the soul, and the base began to tremble.

"Legacy! Take the soul to the security vaults!" the Queen ordered. Instantly, a soldier stepped forward, glared at Chara, and snatched her complete soul.

Meanwhile, the Doctor was finding it difficult to pick his way through the metallic wasteland. They just couldn't give up, could they? What was it called again? That's right, he remembered. Determination.

"Alright, the base should be this way. Last time I came here, the base was up a mountain…" the Doctor deduced, leading the group over a natural patch of high grass.

"Doctor! Over there, look!" Papyrus gasped, turning his head towards a marching shape on the horizon.

"Strange, they've still got a ruling regime with no-one to rule over…" the Doctor commented, beginning to run a fair bit quicker.

"Apart from Exor 3, you know! I've been checking my smartphone, and half the city's occupied, we've got to move fast-" Bravada replied.

"You've been on your phone?!" Papyrus muttered, amazed.

"Yes, I'm a regular, modern Ajaxan…" Bravada explained.

"Are you implying I'm not a regular Ajaxan?" Papyrus asked, fishing in his pockets for his phone.

"Maybe…" Bravda replied, with a wink.

"They're getting closer, you two! MOVE IT!" the Doctor yelled, beckoning them both to hurry to the mountain before they were spotted- but…as it seemed, they already were spotted, and a branch of the army was splitting off to chase them.

That was when the Doctor started noticing blips in the signal from the sonic screwdriver.

Chara's life force was fading.

"GIVE IT BACK!" Chara screamed like a spoiled child, reaching for the soldier and levitating towards them, ever slower as a ache invaded her: her soul…her soul was being taken and…it hurt…

They both exited the room, leaving Queen Xanxia with a smug look on her face.

The Doctor, by now, felt metal clang beneath his feet as he explained the metal-hard reason that they needed to hurry- and as he did so, Papyrus began to take the lead almost instantly. "How long does she have?!" he asked him, head whipping around for the shortest route to the signal.

"I don't know if she's going to die, but…she's in a lot of pain! Either Queen Xanxia's doing something to her soul or her soul's been taken!" the Doctor replied, making his way ahead slowly.

"MY GOD!-" Papyrus gasped, horrified at the thought of one's soul being taken for a reason close to déjà vu. "Come on, you lot! I think I have the perfect route!"

He couldn't help noticing that Bravada seemed a lot less…motivated. He gave her an encouraging look, thinking that she maybe wasn't brave enough. Running onwards, he was faced with a very thin ledge- he could easily sidle across, but…

"Problem…the back of my headwear's too thick." Bravada explained. "Solution, just take it off!..."

"Not exactly sure, Bravada. That'll literally turn into a meteor." the Doctor corrected, calculating calculations.

"Are you saying the traditional dress of the Ajaxans is bulky?..." Bravada exclaimed.

"Nah. I know what it's like." the Doctor replied.

"Simple other solution!" Papyrus suggested. "I could keep you steady as you go across?..."

"You're blushing." Bravada whispered.

"..I am and I hate it!" Papyrus replied, catching Bravada's hand and shuffling across the ledge, making a special effort to keep Bravada steady. The Doctor watched, seeing the ledge creak a little, and elected to stay on the other side until they got across- except, suddenly, he saw two shapes through the misty glass.

"DUCK!" the Doctor yelled, as two gunshots went straight through the glass where the pair's heads were.

"UP! RIGHT! LEFT!" he continued to bark- and before long, the pair were in a synchronized waltz of life and death. Papyrus turned to the Doctor and yelled back over the noise "You know I'm not very good at dancing!"

"Don't worry about that…I am very, very good at dancing!" Bravada replied- she'd now worked out the dance they had to dance to stay alive- it was a simple four-beat waltz, and she thought to herself in a seductive voice, she quite liked it…Papyrus definitely didn't.

Eventually, they were forced into a very awkward leaning over position- from there, they fell straight through the window and straight onto the guards. Papyrus found himself, once again, with a gun at his skull- instinctively, he shot a bone straight at the barrel, rendering it useless.

"Well!...Bravada, I've kept this from you long enough…" Papyrus declared with a smile, getting up from the ground. "I'm not actually an Ajaxan."

"I've been keeping a secret from you too, I guess…" Bravada continued. "I always knew you weren't an Ajaxan. I just didn't want to be rude."

"What? WHAT?" Papyrus laughed, looking Bravada straight in the eyes. The Doctor stepped carefully into the broken window, still checking Chara's life signs. Noticing the signal was getting more random every second, he ran forward, Papyrus immediately following, and Bravada taking time to dust herself off.

The Doctor suddenly came to a crossroads, and saw a blue light flash down it incredibly quickly while static hissed in the background. Following it, he came to a dead end. Chara was right there, and she was hunched over in pain, hair shadowing her face. Something was disturbing about her face, though…he couldn't quite put his finger on it, until he saw her eyes. Black as night, large as owl's eyes, just for a second…

"Doctor…the…sonic…" she gasped, clutching her chest in pain. The Doctor pressed the screwdriver to the hologram and her pain relieved- he had temporarily disabled the pain circuit remotely.

"He's gotten away, with my-" Chara began to explain, but Bravada stepped in front of the Doctor, towering over her.

"Explain yourself." she snapped. "Why the hell did you get us thrown in a dungeon?!"

"It was all a ploy, a ruse! A ruse to get you on board the ship!" Chara explained, taken aback by the confrontation.

"Did you have ANY idea what they could have done to us?"

Chara stayed completely silent. No, she hadn't. She'd come up with the plan in the moment. She wanted to be the one responsible for the victory. It had worked, but…god damnit, she was hyperventilating again…

"For god's sake, we were thrown against a metal wall, bound and bloody gagged! We only got out because I barged the door open-"

"Bravada!" Papyrus exclaimed, interrupting her. "All that matters now is finding Chara's soul and NOT being mean to her!"

Bravada gave Papyrus a withering look, but turned away from Chara. The Doctor muttered an agreement under his breath, and Chara gave Papyrus a thankful look. The quartet continued down the corridor without a word between them, until Chara suddenly noticed one of the escape pods had gone. Immediately, she beckoned the rest of the group into the other, Bravada reluctantly being pulled aboard by Papyrus.

"Right, one of those idiots has made off in the escape pod to be later recovered. I've pretty much got a complete plan. Doctor, you know how to control these things, correct?" Chara explained. The Doctor nodded. "Escape pods are my glory!" he exclaimed, pressing the launch button and exploding out of Zanak. The recoil was amazing, and before long, Papyrus gave the signal that the other escape pod was below. Breaking the bottom of the ship open, the Doctor began to lower himself onto the ceiling of the ship…grip slipping, Bravada grabbed his legs, Papyrus hugging him around the waist to ensure he didn't fall- until he did. Hitting the ceiling of the ship, the Doctor began to sonic the ceiling until it came away. Chara hovered inside, and immediately shorted out it's controls.

"Whaddid you do that for?!" the Doctor gasped. Chara gave him a fingers on lips sign.

"Ahem." she coughed. "Soldier, I've just shorted out your controls and lowered your shields. I believe we can reach a compromise? Give me back the soul and I'll repair it."

"I will gladly die for the sake of my queen!" the soldier replied, defiantly. Chara was suspecting this.

"Golly, then I'll just have to-" Chara answered, tightening the seatbelts and clips so they completely immobilized him. "-do that. Thankyou very much." Chara snatched back the SOUL, and repaired the controls, flying out of the ship.

"Good luck dealing with the authorities. Bye-bye!"

It felt like an eternity before they hit the ground again with an above-average thump.

"Alright, everyone. Watch this." Chara stated, beckoning for everyone to look up at the sky. "I'm about to send the signal…"

Silently, Chara sent a mental request to Zanak's engines. Slowly, it began to glide away into the void of space. She didn't know exactly where to…maybe it would just keep going forever.

"Ha!" the Doctor laughed, while Papyrus gave Chara a look of amazement. Bravada smiled a little.

"I should have clicked my fingers. That would have made it even better." Chara suggested. "Anyway…shall we head back to the TARDIS?"

"I'll head off!" Bravada concluded. "Might bring the whole thing about the soul to the surface of the media, stop the same thing happening again."

"Good plan." Chara replied. "Come on, you guys."

"Goodbye, Bravada!" Papyrus exclaimed, waving. "May we meet again!" Bravada, amused by his flirtation, smiled and blushed, then walked away.

"Alright, I've located where the other part of your soul is…" the Doctor concluded, voice with a worried tone.

"Wheeeere is it?…" Chara muttered, looking over at the scanner, and immediately gaining a shocked face of amazement.

"So?! Let me see! Let me see!" Papyrus exclaimed, incredibly excited for the next trip.

"I'll give you three guesses…" the Doctor groaned…


	10. WhoTale: Legacy of Dust

Chara had now located the location- located the location? – of the third part of her human soul. The Doctor, just before, had asked her where they were, and judging by the look on his face, they weren't in for very much trouble. They were heading for the planet Alastro 4 of the Shining System. The most beautiful planet in its district and a bustling center of trade, along with its planetary sisters.

In short, everything was about to go wrong.

She'd located the human soul: once again trapped within the highest of authorities. The Doctor once again led the way out of the TARDIS, followed by Papyrus, donning the fedora like second nature at this point.

"Alastro 4." the Doctor explained. "One of the most beautiful worlds in the universe, alongside the likes of Midnight…It's actually very similar, actually, only not having the downside of not orbiting an X-Tonic sun. We're in the Diamond Deserts right now."

"Damn! Where are my sunglasses when I need them?" Papyrus asked to himself. "Also, what's X-Tonic? It sounds like some generic brand of…sunscreen? My brother was buying it by the ton before we went to the surface."

"I guess you could say he bought…" Chara sighed, leaving an obvious pause. "A skele-ton."

"OH! MY! GOD!" Papyrus snapped, kicking at the diamond sand, sending a beautiful glittering spray across the air. "Why does everyone in my life torment me with puns?..."

"Just trying to lighten the conversation…Maybe if you stopped reacting like that, they wouldn't do it." Chara muttered. Papyrus immediately got her point, and blushed a little before beginning his march across the sparkling landscape.

"So…according to the TARDIS navigation system, the Great and Shining City of Alastronica is, roughly, this way. Turn left at the large diamond mountain, basically…" the Doctor advised.

"Doesn't look very great and shining to me." Papyrus noted.

"Are you referring to that giant cloud of smog?" Chara asked, pointing towards a tainted sky, and progressing towards and upwards to investigate.

"I thought Alastronica's famous for having no pollution…" the Doctor muttered, incredibly confused. Moving forward through the sand which hardened into a structure beneath his feet, he slowly began to break into a run towards the shapes on the horizon that he saw: moving shapes with a sharpened edge. The three of them followed suit: all three of them were amazed by what they saw. Recollection flashed in Chara's eyes: she recognized this place. A shining desert turning dark. She'd seen that in the premonition she'd had way back then. Of everything that could be. What WOULD be.

The skyline of Alastronica showed before them. Militarized. Broken. Rusted. Attack helicopters hovered around it like flies.

"How did the greatest city in its local system become a dystopia so quickly?..." the Doctor gasped.

"Doctor, I can tell you the answer to that right here and now." Chara whispered, shaking slightly.

"Yeah? What is it?"

"The universe's worst nightmare." Chara hissed, her eyes becoming hollow black holes and her voice becoming a hollow echo. The Doctor looked incredibly startled, prompting Chara to hide her eyes.

"I know not the specifics, all I know is who's responsible. She's what you both have been fighting against this whole time. The one who spread the psychic network throughout the universe and has been destroying it piece by piece AS WE SPEAK!"

"So she's some sort of god." the Doctor concluded.

"An equivalent god." Chara replied. "You saw Asriel Dreemurr, didn't you? Did he talk about gaining complete control over the other Earth's timeline?"

"Yes…she's already GOT complete control, that's the thing. She just doesn't want to use it, at least not for its intended purpose."

"She must have been the one that let that Cyberman through, trying to get me to reset." the Doctor noted. "But if she's intent on destroying the universe, why doesn't she use that?"

"Simple." Chara explained. "There are more interesting ways to do it." As soon as she spoke the word interesting, her voice gained a very sharp tone to it. The Doctor was amazed by such levels of obvious hate coming out of one small child.

"You two!" Papyrus exclaimed. "There's someone wanting to say hello."

The Doctor whipped around, suddenly beholding two attack helicopters hovering towards them. Clearly they recognized them from somewhere, and immediately- they were advancing. The Doctor didn't know why, but the Doctor knew what was going to happen if they lingered.

"RUN!" he screamed, grabbing both their hands and crashing back over the diamond sands. He didn't know how long they'd have to run. He didn't even know where to run. The biggest question running through his mind was: did they recognize him or were they just hostile?

Chara was still level with the Doctor in terms of running speed, Papyrus was going amazingly quickly for someone wearing actual metal armor, but no human could run faster than an attack helicopter. Their only option was, paradoxically, to stop and run the other direction while the attack helicopters turned, but something told the Doctor this system of helicopter was far more advanced. The desert glittered with diamond dust as gunshots exploded into the sand.

"I have an idea, Doctor!" Papyrus yelled over the noise. "It'll be like…Landspeeders!"

"You've watched Star Wars?!" the Doctor replied.

Papyrus stopped in his tracks, materializing two bones in midair. "Hang on!" he cried. "And yes! I have!"

Hanging on with one hand only, Papyrus immediately shot the bones towards the horizon, the Doctor holding out his sonic screwdriver to aid its acceleration, Chara hovering near the helicopters with a plan of her own: distraction.

The Doctor could see a small mountainlet on the horizon: he could faintly remember Alastronica 4 being renowned for its beautiful cave systems below its mountains. "Left!" he shouted, taking a sharp turn. "Chara, are you able to act as a beacon?"

"Yessir!" Chara replied.

"Find a good cave!" the Doctor instructed, Chara immediately shooting off to find one. Papyrus looked at his impromptu vehicle- filled with the holes of bullets, he immediately directed it backwards, left, any which way to throw off the gunshots. Suddenly, his vehicle flipped over, leaving his cape scraping the sand. The Doctor's one was right in front of him, and his was beginning to fall from the sky. Slowly and carefully he inched his way towards the end of his makeshift Landspeeder- grabbing the end of the Doctor's. For a brief moment he skidded across the sand before inching onto the end of the Doctor's vehicle. His other vehicle smashed into the desert sand.

Suddenly, a massive blue light shone nearby. The Doctor, looking behind him to see Papyrus clinging on for dear life. He hesitated before swinging the vehicle to go full force for the light.

Before the attack helicopters could catch up with the accelerating Bonespeeders, the Doctor was heading for the diamond cave's entrance under the diamond mountain. Careening down the tunnel, the attack helicopters waiting at the entrance, the Doctor and Papyrus had found safety.

And, it seemed, so had two others. Clutching each other, they trembled in fear in time with the beats of the helicopters waiting outside. They were two deer-like creatures, but with a human-like face.

Papyrus immediately saw their fear, and stepped forward to greet them as warmly as possible. "Never fear! We're not soldiers, despite my brilliant armor!"

The pair seemed to calm down a little. Chara gave a look to Papyrus that told him one thing: yes, you are. You're both soldiers. Nevertheless, the introduction seemed to have worked a treat.

"Have you crashed here as well?" one of the refugees asked, voice trembling still.

"Well, no. We're looking for something." the Doctor explained.

"Specifically, my soul." Chara interrupted. "I got wind it was being kept in the city."

"Don't go in! It's anarchy in there ever since the other planets…disappeared."

"I've gotten wind that the universe is at stake here." the Doctor continued. "Also, how exactly did the other planets get destroyed?"

"Turned to dust." the other explained. "Our command ship was hijacked by seemingly nothing. We crashed in the desert and immediately took refuge in this cave…we pulled straws as to who would look out for…you know."

Turned to dust, Chara thought, half-repressed memories flooding back. Turned to dust. Dust like everything else in her path. Chara snarled at the memories she viewed before her…she just wanted to leave. Leave everything.

"Well! That's quite the villain we're up against." Papyrus noted. "What was it you said they were?- the universe's worst nightmare!"

"Yes." Chara muttered. "I should not have dragged anyone into this."

"Well, as you said. The universe is at stake. There's been several reports of clouds of white dust where prosperous planets once were, and they seem to be centered around the co-ordinate where the psychic network originated. Stars are going out by the dozen. The universe is in a state of crisis, and several times the Cloister Bell started ringing for a few seconds…"

"But still. I don't wish you to be brought into this scuffle between powers."

Chara's voice lowered. "Especially not you, Papyrus."

"Anyway." the Doctor continued. "Thanks for the refuge. We'll construct a plan to get into the city and take back the power source, hopefully bring it back to democracy while we're at it and get you home?"

"Sounds like a reasonable plan." one of the aliens concluded. "I'm Alyxandra, she's Quasi… And you three are?..."

"Papyrus! The Great Papyrus, to be exact." Papyrus replied, incredibly proud of himself for no visible reason. To be proud of yourself, Chara thought. She was jealous of him for that reason alone.

"Yeah, I'm the Doctor. Nice to meet you two." the Doctor answered.

"And…I'm Chara. The unlucky one who had their soul stolen."

"Interesting. We're willing to shelter you for as long as you wish!" Alyxandra offered. "We've got a nice cave for you guys, some quite scenic stalagmites…"

They both laughed, their horns clattering. "Anyway, continue as you will. We've sent out a distress signal and we're in the process of repairing the ship. Once the airspace is declared free for a moment, we'll get off this cursed planet."

Continuing down into the shining, glossy cave, the Doctor saw more and more survivors of the crash, hiding out, some already geared for protection. It was obvious that none of them were remotely prepared for this situation mentally: in fact, the Doctor suspected these Equis (their species name) were on their way to some kind of language trip. They looked…almost like teenagers.

Many turned their heads as the unlikely trio picked their way down the corridor. A human, an Ajaxan, and a hologram. Chara cast a dim and calming blue light on the cave walls. Eventually, they came to an open alcove in the wall, where they all made their place and began their plan. The Doctor spearheaded the operation: he'd been to Alastronica before. The town, as he'd heard, was completely militarized and presumably under the control of the psychic network. But, he deduced, the psychic network clearly knew who they were. The entire military must be under the entity's control. Only thing is, the Doctor didn't seem to have enough information. Chara wasn't letting much slip. On that note…

"Where's Chara?" the Doctor concluded.

"I shall search for her!" Papyrus suggested, practically jogging up the incline.

When Papyrus reached the entrance, the climate of fear was completely gone. Well, that wasn't what he expected. At first he thought it might be his presense, maybe the group's in general, but his theory was thrown out the window when he saw the burning attack helicopters. Chara was standing there, her hand raised in the air.

Papyrus read the scene like a book.

Chara felt his presence and whipped around: her face in shock as she saw the one person that believed in her, at least up until now.

"Oh! Chara. The Doctor wants you." Papyrus noted.

Chara instantly teleported back to the cave without a word. Papyrus just stood there, half wondering how a half-incorporeal ghost could destroy two attack helicopters, and half-wondering if…she had actually killed the pilots. Maybe the system was automatic, he thought. Maybe there weren't real people inside.

Oh, who was he kidding. Chara had destroyed them. It all seemed to add up. How she's frequently talked about not wanting to hurt anyone else…because she was…guilty. Guilty of a lot, it appeared.

But something held him back from being truly angry at her, or angry at jer at all. He didn't quite know what it was, but he'd definitely felt it before, back when the Doctor was fighting him for the first time. It was the same reason he asked specifically to capture the human, before Undyne could give him direct orders. And he didn't quite know it until now.

In fact…he wanted to help her. He wanted to help her through her trying times. Show her that she can move past what she'd…presumably…done to make her like this.

Several hours later, the Doctor had a complete plan. He had a strong feeling that this might not go well, and if anything killed off more companions than anything else: it was poor planning. They'd get into the the main capital via the subway system, get into the building where Chara's soul was kept, and launch either a stealth attack on the structure or…the alternative. He'd asked for their shelterers to stay there: he didn't want any of them to be hurt in the venture. Chara wholly agreed.

"If my adversary is indeed in full control, I may be able to distract her." Chara explained, with grace neither had seen before. "She's been waiting for me for a long time, and us venturing onto one of her new planets may be…"

Chara took a pause.

"…exactly what she wants us to do."

"Well, we musn't be peturbed by that!" Papyrus exclaimed.

"We don't exactly have a choice. I've been keeping tabs on planet disappearances and they're rising by the day."

"Well. That's…exactly what I predicted she'd do. She destroys things just to see the dust it'll leave behind." Chara replied.

The two of them were silent. The Doctor hadn't seen planetary destruction on this scale. This villain Chara spoke of…she rivalled even the Daleks.

The trio walked slowly across the shining desert, wearing large sunhats borrowed from the Equis (and by that, I mean VERY large) to disguise them from a bird's eye view. (Unable to wear a sunhat, Chara just turned her form into a raggedy sparrow, resting on Papyrus' glove.)

"So, you say this villain of yours…she absorbed six human souls? I thought human souls couldn't absorb humans souls. Also, you should shapeshift more often!"

"Thankyou, by the way." Chara whispered. "Well, I know how it works. It's definitely something to do with Determination. The monsters just don't know that a Determination soul can harness all the power of other human souls. Then again…your definition of human wouldn't fit her or me, really. We're both something different."

"Understandable." Papyrus replied.

Chara was silent for a moment, then immediately realised what he meant.

"Oh! Right! I'm a sparrow! Still though…the answer is that I just don't know. The Determination soul type is so rare that her and I are probably the only two in the world that possess it. Otherwise its effects would have been known throughought history."

"How very, very interesting!" Papyrus noted, before continuing to run after the Doctor, who was getting incredibly close to the city…but, then again, they couldn't get too close to the militarized walls.

"Stand back, you guys. There's a subway route right under here." the Doctor declared, pointing his sonic screwdriver directly at the sand. The diamonds began to slowly move apart, shifting by way of controlled vibrations, revealing a metal sheet, which melted and fell onto railway tracks deep below. The Doctor dived into the gap, Papyrus hanging onto the edge and Chara phasing through sand that was rapidly draining into the subway system.

Chara reverted to her child-like form and glanced suspiciously around the subway system. No-one was coming for them, neither train nor soldier. At least, not yet. However…there seemed to be one in a crouched position, buckled over in pain. The Doctor quickly made his way to him…or her. In her or his state, it was impossible to tell. It was incredibly clear that it was dying…its mouth trembling as though trying to speak but stuck on one word. Suddenly, it fell limp. The Doctor noticed a massive earpod stuck in its ear: definitely not originating from Cybus, but it instead looked hijacked. The Doctor gently retrieved it: no brain parts came out with it. A simple hypnotic signal.

Immediately, without warning, the signal started again. White noise, the Doctor thought. White noise with an encoded signal.

Papyrus heard the terrible noise: and immediately, something began to form itself in his mind: an image, a visage so horrifying he trembled in fear, the trembles turned into shakes, the shaking turned into movement and he found himself watching his limbs begin to move on their own, hand outstretched towards the Doctor's back. His magic was materializing against his will. Chara turned backwards, and shoved the Doctor out of the way with trembling arms.

Just as a bone shot right through where the Doctor's head had been.

The Doctor, immediately seeing what had happened, ground the transmitter into metal dust and sparks beneath his feet. The white noise sputtered, then stopped. Papyrus fell like a puppet with cut strings onto the unused railway tracks. Chara and the Doctor rushed over to him at once.

"O-oh my god, Doctor! I'm s-so sorry!" Papyrus gasped once he found his tounge. "That wasn't my f-fault, definitely not my fault!"

"Possessed, the technology's possessing them." the Doctor concluded. "Their bodies, their technology, even their minds so some extent, all in the control of one mind."

Papyrus shuddered; he'd seen what was in control of him and he had absolutely no desire to see it again.

"That must be why they were so hostile." Chara muttered. "They know me and Papyrus as well; the other universe's version of him at least. But how they knew you…I have no idea."

"Anyway, we should probably get moving. If these soldiers have locked onto us, we can expect them to be arriving soon." the Doctor continued. "Judging by the vibrations…we have five minutes."

The three of them ran from the abandoned station, Papyrus following slowest, still incredibly shaken by the experience. "You alright?" Chara whispered. She heard him pause, as though he was about to enthusiastically say yes, but…no.

"N-not exactly." Papyrus stammered. "But…look on the bright side! Someone said that bravery's all about being a little scared…I think!"

"You have quite the optimism, don't you, partner?" Chara stated. "Optimistic people and I tend to go together, like the ying and the yang…"

At last the Doctor, using the soul radar in his sonic screwdriver, detected the main military building. They still had five minutes before the soldiers arrived, and they'd have to get inside the building as quickly as possible: luckily, the sonic screwdriver could take care of that.

The building appeared deserted but crumbling, the very structure collapsing around them. Doors fell off their hinges and fans lay loose. Picking their way around the building, the Doctor instructed them to touch nothing in case of a cave-in.

However, eventually the trio came to a complete dead end, and as they watched the corridor shake around them- something was coming, the Doctor turned, seven armed soldiers, armed to the teeth. All three of their minds were racing, until Papyrus remembered something crucial. They were hypnotized, under someone else's control.

"Soldiers!...No! Whoever you were! You can break out…because…this isn't really you! You wouldn't normally attack me!-"

"I don't think they can break out." the Doctor muttered.

Immediately, all seven of them began to laugh in unison. Not just laughing at the same time, but all of them laughing together like a clip played over itself. They…whatever it was…had utter and complete control.

"Do you believe in us?..." the soldiers hissed, all at the same time.

Papyrus nodded, getting ready to run for his life.

They laughed again, this time even harder. Abruptly, they raised their guns.

"This is almost going to be too easy." they whispered. Suddenly, Chara stepped forward, phasing right through Papyrus. Every single soldier reacted with surprise.

"Hello, my old partner." Chara spat, obvious sarcasm in her voice. "I could say a thousand things against your name. But…all I shall say now is…be seeing you soon. And soon is when it shall end."

"I will never end my reign of dust, and with the help of my friends, my reach shall extend further than you can believe. The universe will be nothing. What you did all those years ago-"

The Doctor whipped out his sonic screwdriver, turning off the controlling earpieces.

"No monolouging."

The soldiers fell to the ground like puppets with cut strings, and the Doctor leapt into a ventilation shaft, the cover easily ripped straight off its screws. The very shaft itself began collapsing: covered in rust, it cracked beneath them like thin winter ice. Upwards was where they were headed for.

Several times they were forced to pull each other over gaps that opened beneath them, but…eventually, the sonic screwdriver indicated the soul was directly below.

Unfortunately, some others might have had the same idea.

"They're following us." Chara muttered.

"I noticed." the Doctor replied, kicking the rusted floor- it immediately gave way, revealing a white spot deep below, at the bottom of a chasm dotted with pipes and wires.

"Target, there. Looks like we're going to have to do some base-jumping." the Doctor noted.

"Noooo way." Papyrus gasped.

"I wouldn't call it a jump so much as a fall with frequent but short delays…" Chara explained. "You've just got to keep moving."

The Doctor planted his feet on another ventilation pipe below: a deadly creak sounded, but not before Papyrus landed as well. The pipe collapsed, landing them on yet another, and another-

Eventually- they were left hanging on a wire, which sparked and hissed. The Doctor looked straight up, viewing the soldier's faces peering downwards, and leaving…were they too scared? No. No. This villain did not care for the lives of humans. If they could get down here, they could get down by way of the mob.

But that was no reason to turn back- he dropped. Standing on the cold white metallic floor of the artificial chasm, the Doctor ripped off the roof with ease. Chara phased through the top, beholding her soul in a shining glass cage. The Doctor soon saw it tinkling to the floor.

Chara embraced the soul shard, clutching it. Suddenly, she whipped around, turning off every light in the room. The white noise that echoed throughout the city ended immediately, a thousand soldiers fell to the floor…some slowly getting up, seeing their comrades and even family fallen…before falling with them.

"It's all about the little victories." Chara muttered.

"This isn't what I'd call little." Papyrus replied. "I mean, you've saved this planet, judging by the relieved look on your face!"

"Compared to the other things." Chara explained. "Anyhow. I do believe there's some escape pods nearby for quick transportation."

"Hold on. I'm just going to check what's happened all over the planet, check if it's just Alastronic-"

The Doctor looked at the image and saw nothing but space and dust.

"NO." he and Chara said in unison.

Alastron 4 was turning to dust right before their eyes. The planet shook as its rotation went wild. The very ground felt like it was being torn apart.

"RUN!" the Doctor screamed.

Down the corridor. Down the hallway. The very world was crumbling. The first few waves of destructive energy was echoing throughout time- it sounded like a roar in their ears like crashing waves. Eventually, a window was all that stood between them and freedom. Crashing through it without a scratch, they ran across rooftops that fell beneath them as a wave of white could be seen on the horizon. Down, down they fell onto the sands at the edge of the city, watching the dust for brief seconds as it closed in like a sandstorm. Chara couldn't help noticing that Papyrus was lagging behind, glancing towards the mountain where the Equis had hidden. Please don't tell me they're all gone, he thought, please don't let them have died, please don't let them be another casualty.

Chara instantly knew what he was so worried about. "Come on, you! The laser destroys everything, even the beings living on the planet!..."

Papyrus stopped in his tracks now. Chara didn't look particularly amazed, but by this point she knew that whatever she said would be hypocritical.

Finally, without a word, he ducked inside the TARDIS just as the wave of dust hit him. He practically fell onto the floor and skidded quite a way. Chara felt immediately relieved: did he finally get it or was he just wishing to survive?

"Do you see, Doctor, the danger the universe is in? She's pursuing us now." Chara explained.

"I've been pursued many times, and I've never been caught." the Doctor reassured her. "I guess you could say…I've been running all my life."

Chara was silent, almost in a moment of silence for what the Doctor had done, good or bad. Papyrus just stood there, wondering what on Earth the Doctor had to run from.

If only he knew, she thought.

She gave the Doctor a small glare, just for a microsecond, knowing that he hid so much, before she remembered she definitely wasn't one to talk.

That reminded her.

There was a reason she felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders recently, even though the wait hadn't been lifted.

She would tell someone what she had done.

She let go of all her anxieties.

It almost felt like fate to meet the one person who would forgive anyone.


	11. WhoTale Minisode: Burning of the Pheonix

Chara was already putting it off, it seemed. They'd found a million and one distractions in Papyrus' little TARDIS-room-thingy. The Doctor, expecting companions, built a small guest room especially for the ones the came. Small things were left over from the ones from the past, including a wedding ring with a very incriminating receipt.

"Oh my god." Chara gasped as she read the name. "She was going to propose to him?!"

"Who?" Papyrus asked, leaning over.

"Rose Tyler. She was forced to leave the Doctor, quite a while ago. Broke her heart, it did. Then she came back with a gun."

"Well, I guess it's for the best, anyway. She's human, he's a Time Lord, it wouldn't really work out…" Papyrus concluded.

Silence. Neither knew quite what to say.

"Well, I'm just putting it off, aren't I?..." Chara muttered. "I've been hoping to get this off my chest for a while and…I have a feeling you'd forgive me. Perhaps I'm just desperate."

"Well, go ahead!" Papyrus replied.

"Well…you remember the part of the story I left out? I'm surprised neither of you asked me how I stopped her. Well, I'll begin at the beginning of the end."

"Allow me to describe a pheonix. You know what those are…don't you?..."

"Oh yes! Pheonixes are cool…as I've mentioned, I've read Harry Potter."

"Who hasn't?...Anyway. I'll continue. Imagine a pheonix, and all its shining feathers the humans and the monsters that live on the Earth. Except…it's caged. Every now and then the pheonix is let out, and all the feathers feel the sun. Then it is caught and shoved back in again."

"Wait, wait! You mean…we don't even get to always see the sun once we see it?...Do the humans force us back underground?..." Papyrus asked.

"No. The human who freed them would reset. She'd try something else, like…killing just Jerry, or stiffing you when you wanted to date her, or…much, much worse. Anyway. Eventually, all the pheonix's feathers turn to dust, and the pheonix must burn to let the world continue."

"…What do you mean?" Papyrus inquired. "They…did another reset?"

"At the end, right after the human defeated the final boss, as you might call it…this final boss was your brother, by the way…I was able to see into her mind for a brief moment, being part of her consciousness and all. And…I saw all of this happening. The shining desert, turning dark. Whole planets that I'd never seen before turning into dust. The darkness was approaching. The stars going out. The universe turning black and all others as well. And there was…only one solution."

Chara took a long pause, wondering how exactly he'd react; she was beginning to have thoughts of turning back, ending the story, but…that would only leave her with more anxiety over when they'd find out on their own, because the Fallen God would…reveal it to the Doctor as soon as she got the chance.

She decided to continue.

"It stared me in the face. I realised that at this point I could split off of the human's soul due to all the Determination she'd gained, taking the only human part of her she had left, but still. Then I would take the six human souls and use them to…prevent what was happening. And the only sure way to do that was to destroy the world."

Papyrus just sat there dumbfounded.

"There you go. That's what I've been wanting to get off of my chest for a while. Anyway. It…worked out. After she gave me her soul, I moved us both to another timeline with half-erased memories of the experience. I gave her a new soul, she saved the world and I…scared her quite badly at that point. It worked exactly as I planned and she didn't do another reign of genocide for…quite a while, due to erasing her memory as well as mine. Every time I did it, I thought I was doing it for the first time, at least at first glance. But I couldn't shake the feeling that I was doing it for the second time. And then the third. And then the fourth."

"Y-you destroyed the world four times?" Papyus asked. "Oh my god…"

Suddenly, without warning, Chara initiated a battle with Papyrus. The interface that came with it popped up in front of the both of them. Papyrus saw her statistics and was…incredibly shocked.

CHARA.

ATK N/A DEF N/A.

* Wouldn't hurt a single monster.  
* Humans are a different story.  
LV: 999999…

"See my LV? That's hard proof."

Sans. Sans had told him what LOVE was…it was a measure of how many someone had killed. Their level of violence, as it were. She had killed thousands in the name of the universe.

"What?!" he gasped. "I-" He looked back up at her face, and she hid it in shame. Trembling, she waited for his response.

"T-this is what you had to do to save the world?!"

"Yes. And every time I prevented what's happening right now from happening. But…what I didn't realise was…her memories weren't actually erasing. The fith time I prepared to destroy the world…she stabbed me through the chest right in the middle of my monolouge. That's how I got this scar, actually."

Chara lifted her shirt up a little, revealing a horrific scar in the rough shape of an arc.

"The scars on my arms are unrelated, by the way. Anyway. She turned the tables on me and imprisoned me in the void after she destroyed the world in my place. She kept me like a pet, demanding my soul so she could wreak havoc on other timelines, but…t-true to my name, I stayed determined. She called me a…demon…she called me…the true v-villain of everything. She told me…w-we were no different, and worst of all, she forced my previous memories to all flood back…I saw the demon that I was..."

"And you believed it?" Papyrus asked.

"Are you implying that she lied to me about what I was?!" Chara snapped quietly. "I've accepted that I am a demon. I've accepted that I'm just as much of a villain as she is, two dragons in battle for eternity, neither fighting the good fight!"

Papyrus honestly didn't know what to say.

"Oh, right. I get it." she whispered. "You still forgive me, but just don't want to say because you know what I've done is wrong. It's alright. I understand"

"Still, though! Even if you are as heartless as you think you are, which, might I add, you most definitely aren't!...Is that any reason for me not to be nice to you?" Papyrus answered.

Chara just sat there, realising he did indeed have the logic correct. But she hated it. She had watched him die to his own overbearing kindness. No, no, she thought, she would never let that happen again. But…something stirred within her. More specifically, memories. The yin and the yang, the optimism and the misanthropy, the…the burned-out pheonix and the scarlet macaw…where had she seen that before?

As…Asriel.

Chara smiled, her head bowed, as she remembered how she'd been brought up and given a second chance, even as a broken child she had been repaired, the scars from the slashes she and others had given her had healed.

They could heal again.

"I…see…your logic's irrefutable, though flawed in a thousand other senses…" she muttered. A single tear fell from her eye as she remembered a thousand things she could do again, even if she didn't deserve them…

"I was right…it seems. About you. You really would forgive the most heartless of demons, wouldn't you?..." she continued, laughing slightly. "Still, regardless if you do forgive me or not…just…promise not to tell the Doctor, alright? He wouldn't get it like you do, even if you don't get it yourself…He'd hate me."

"I'm not too sure about that. I mean, the Doctor doesn't hate!..."

"No. No, he does hate. Mostly…a race called the Daleks. He…fought them in a war a long time ago…and you know how he…hates…war…"

Chara suddenly realised something, something that she'd buried, something that everyone buried deep in their minds.

"No. You are correct, Papyrus." she whispered.

"Wonderful!" Papyrus replied, which made Chara laugh a little at his clearly unintentional narcissism. Suddenly, her laugh stopped, and she went deadly serious.

"He would understand."

Instantly, Chara's head snapped upwards to look directly at him. Papyrus jumped as he saw her blacked-out and widened eyes, seeming to elicit unfounded fear.

" , C A N ' T H E ?"

Papyrus stiffened as confusion hit him like a tidal wave. Relate to what? Relate to hating herself? Relating to destroying the- no! no! No! Just as quickly, she broke eye contact and her eyes shrunk back to normal.

"Sorry. Sorry. Forget I ever said anything. Ever." Chara muttered, immediately realising what she'd said while in her half-her state.

"Oh my god! You scared me half to death, Chara!..." Papyrus stammered. "I mean, that's not exactly hard for you, is it?..."

"It's strange. It's like your brother and his glowing blue eye. When I'm actually serious about something, my eyes just do that. It's almost like I…no, I don't become a different person. But still, you heard the way I spoke."

Papyrus was still silent, caught up in a moral dilemma. To forgive? To shun? He truly didn't know what to say or do. But someone wanted him to shun her, and it wasn't the Doctor. It was Chara herself.

"…I get the feeling you…don't want me to forgive you." Papyrus muttered under his breath.

"For one, I don't feel like I deserve such forgiveness. For another, the reason I thought you'd forgive me…still haunts me."

Chara fell silent. Would it be creepy to tell someone about their own death? Then again, being creepy was what she was good at. Wait. Wait. Did she just…say she was…good? At something?...Never mind. She was.

"I'll let the cat out of the bag, as it were." Chara mentioned. "It…was your death. On that route where Frisk killed everyone. Everyone had evacuated Snowdin, leaving you the only one left. You didn't even try to fight. You just…" Chara sighed at this point, voice trembling as she confronted the past. "…offered to be friends. You spared her right from the start."

Frisk was standing in the clearing, shivering uncontrollably. Chara was fairly sure it was purely due to the cold, and nothing to do with her non-existent emotions. Her clothes were covered with frost and dust, and she made no effort to continue surviving.

Chara finally mustered the courage to look up.

There was a shadow in the blizzard.

No, she thought, no no no no no no. NOT HIM TOO.

"Halt, human!" Papyrus exclaimed over the roar of white. Frisk immediately started running towards him, knife outstretched.

"H-hey! Quit moving while I'm talking to you!"

What…no…it couldn't. She couldn't. He couldn't. No. No. She wouldn't let her kill another. Her eyes were already dry from Toriel's death.

"But worry not!"

Chara looked up again to see the faint sillouhette of a figure with his arms opened wide.

"I, Papyrus, will gladly be your friend and tutor!"

No. No. No. No. He couldn't be. He didn't seem to notice Frisk padding across the snow towards him.

"NO! STOP IT, NO!" she screamed. "FRISK, FOR GOD'S SAKE, LOOK AT YOURSELF!"

Frisk turned to Chara, with a look of despair on her face that twisted itself into anger in Chara's eye, and her words fell like icicles to the floor. By now, she was far ahead of her, standing right in front of him. She hoped she was crying tears of regret and sadness.

"I welcome you with open arms!" Papyrus cried to the wind. The padding footsteps in the distance were drowned out with hopes that she would accept. She had to. In the other timelines they had grown so close, best friends across species. She wouldn't just kill him then and-

There was a faint hissing sound as his body turned to dust and flew away in the wind. A thump as his head dropped into the snow and a whirl as his scarf flew away to be caught on a pine tree far behind them.

"W-well, that's not what I expected…" he muttered, speaking with great difficulty as dust flew off of his head into the blizzard.

"But…st-still! I believe in you! You can do a little better! I…I promise…"

And he turned to dust, that smile of hope still on his face.

Frisk simply stood there, no tears falling this time. She'd definitely changed.

It was like she had done nothing at all, but still. She didn't move on immediately. Chara almost didn't want to believe she was silently mourning him. She shut her eyes, and then opened them as wide as she could, trying in vain to pass it off as just another dream.

"You still believed in them." Chara whispered under her breath. "O-on the bright side…it was probably the bravest thing any version of you has ever done."

"I've never heard a more tragic tale!" Papyrus gasped. "Honestly, I seem to have a habit of meeting people who've been through a lot."

"…that saying about birds of a feather flocking together couldn't be more wrong. Then again…you're a lot like him, though. You know?...Anyway. Do you still view me the same way?..."

"Well, of course not, that's kind of obvious… but…you know! You're still my friend!"

"Oh…" Chara sighed. "Well…just promise not to tell the Doctor, alright? It probably doesn't need saying, though. That is all I ask."

"Promise!" Papyrus replied, holding out his pinky, as best he could with mittens on. Chara responded by wrapping hers around his, almost jokingly at this point. She'd seen other girls. do it in the playground way back when she was on the surface but had never done it herself.

"Thanks. I've had that weighing me down for a while." Chara stated, before phasing back through the door.

"Finally, somebody gets it." she muttered. Suddenly, she realised that she felt very taken back, back to the time when she did in fact have a best friend. It was…happening again. The TARDIS morphed into the warm and fluffy corridors of their Home, running down carrying Toriel's best jewels while screaming and laughing at the same time about being a robber, or opening the present to find an ornamental knife, knowing immediately it symbolized her maturity, moving past her suicidal tendencies and how they could trust her now with a weapon that they would never trust her with alone. But…that was…gone now…

It was gone. The past was behind her. She was living in the past now, and she had always known that as something she strived to leave behind, why had she forgotten it now?...

Her time was running out. Her song would end soon, she thought.

But if her song was ending…

IT WAS GOING TO HAVE ONE HELL OF A FINALE.


	12. WhoTale: Fangs of a Demon

The Doctor was playing around with the timeline circuit: my god, had Sans literally planned to go to other timelines with this thing? He felt disgusted and amazed, both at the same time. He was currently checking the universe which Papyrus had come from, the Underverse, as he called it. There were hundreds of different timelines to not choose from, none of which he intended to go to. They were currently in [Main], the most recent timeline was [#007]- the Genocide timeline, as he had learned, the first of five in which the human destroyed the entire underground's population.

Suddenly, just as he watched, at least seventeen timelines disappeared from the list. Destroyed. Seventeen possibilities that the universe would end.

The Doctor rubbed his eyes; the Cloister Bell had kept him up all night.

"Morning, Doctor! By the way, what is that annoying bonging noise?" Papyrus asked, tying his scarf on.

"TARDIS warning system. Basically means the end of the universe might be coming or that the TARDIS is in danger of breaking up."

"Should we…run?"

"No. I think it's the former." the Doctor replied, a very grave look on his face. "Can't exactly run from this. Chara!"

"Yes?" Chara muttered, still groggy and incredibly worried about the Cloister Bell's activity.

"Are you sure we're unable to get into this…location? Base? Whatever it is. My TARDIS has quite a lot of features."

"Unfortunately not, Doctor. Try all you want. It's unbreakable as the barrier." Chara answered. "…Let's get off the topic of the potential end of the universe, shall we? I've crafted the program that will propel us instantly to the co-ordinates of the Fallen God's craft, in this main universe. How she got from my universe to yours I don't know…"

"Dimensional breaches." the Doctor explained. "I've modified my Vortex Manipulator to go between dimensions, by the way. I've not dared to use the one I have in storage but it's very good to experiment on."

"Did somebody say end of the universe?" Papyrus asked.

The Doctor nodded gravely. "Yeh. Erased across space and time. This entity's final victory." He left his spot and went to set the co-ordinates for the last part of Chara's soul.

"See, Papyrus?..." Chara whispered, far below her breath. "This is…what would have happened…"

Papyrus raised his eyebrows, not saying a word, but still having the moral tide swirling around in his head. A world…for the universe…it seemed right…but it seemed wrong…he didn't quite know what to think anymore. He abandoned the thought entirely.

"Whassat?" the Doctor inquired, overhearing the hushed words.

"What would have happened if I had done nothing." Chara answered.

"There's still one question you haven't answered yet…how did you stop her in the other timelines?..."

Chara said nothing, and shot the Doctor a sharp glare. The Doctor stopped talking immediately, and went back to piloting the TARDIS towards the last soul fragment…but nothing was happening. Blips kept appearing in one particular spot, but they never seemed to stay for more than a second. Following a hunch, he set the co-ordinates to the point. And…again, it was Earth. Strange, he thought. The two segments that landed on Earth must have come off near the start of Chara's painful journey through the Time Vortex.

There was a nagging thought in the Doctor's head.

He didn't dismiss it this time.

"Earth, I presume, Doctor?" Papyrus asked, the TARDIS still in flight.

"Yep. As always…It's around here, in Medieval England. However, it seems to be half-there." the Doctor commented. "Almost like it's…preparing to be there."

"…You're not making sense!" Papyrus replied.

"I never do…" the Doctor answered. "Ooh! Ooh! There's something else near the area!...Time disturbances! Time disturbances on a very serious level!"

"…Not good." Chara whispered. "Can you detect what they are?..."

"They're that serious. The TARDIS can't tell the correct history from the altered one…" the Doctor muttered.

"I thought the regular Gallifreyan TARDIS model could detect historical changes no matter what?..." Chara questioned.

"There's a reason I call her 'old girl'. And there's also the reason I have this bruise. This TARDIS is not what you'd call reliable."

"Are you EVER going to fix that turbulence?..." Papyrus noted, hanging on tightly to one of the TARDIS' rails.

"…Maybe. Maybe not. Though we'd better fix history first!" the Doctor replied. "Sorry, that's a phrase I'll never use again. Too cheesy."

"I would rather appreciate it if the TARDIS was parme-sans those kinds of lines." Chara continued.

Papyrus quietly seethed for a little bit before realising he could possibly use the joke for himself against his brother. "Can I borrow that?" he asked.

"Maybe." Chara replied, opening the TARDIS doors with a click of her fingers and floating outwards.

As with all classic medieval times, the streets were muddy and half-destroyed. Papyrus was completely hidden from the public eye, taking care not to bump into anyone: as soon as someone knew something was there, they'd see him…

Chara, however, surveyed the London village with an eye of mild disgust: her newfound confidence in her actions only made her shun her kind still more.

"Right, you two…we've got to find a reasonable place to stay, nearby where the soul's gonna pop up. Or will pop up, or has popped up." the Doctor explained. "I can never get the tenses right…Chara?"

"Mmm?" Chara muttered.

"D'ya think…I should hide you as well?...You're getting quite a few looks."

"No…I'll just improve the resolution. I look entirely human now-"

"Still incorporeal, though."

"I'm very good at making people not want to touch me." Chara resolved.

"Good. Telling them you have a very potent skin condition works great." the Doctor concluded. "Ah! Here's somewhere nearby…reasonably nearby. We'll look pretty unusual looking at the middle of a town square."

The Doctor made his way into the inn, attracting reasonable attention. Drunken men, arguing bartenders. It was hard to avoid conflict, and many turned an eye to Chara in particular, making her uncomfortable. Thankfully, no-one had noticed Papyrus yet. Though, judging by the talk at the bar…

They had dealt with far stranger things.

Some talked about the stars going out as they watched their flocks.

"I'm sorry, what?" the Doctor asked, leaning into the conversation of a short, stubbed looking man.

"Stars. Goin' out as we watched. Aintcha' seen it?" he replied, turning his head only a little way. Only after he had left did he hear him add: "Oh, roight! You 'aven't seen it…Cause you never go out of yer house!"

"Strange." Papyrus muttered. "What does he even have against you?..."

"Pale skin. Mark of the 'posh'." the Doctor explained.

"Oh, great…" Chara muttered, walking up to the counter where they were to pay.

"Did you seriously ask for a two-bedroom room just to keep my cover?!" Papyrus snapped.

"Trust me, the Egyptians would have understood…they respect death, after all. But these people?...Phoo. They'll cancel a war over a simple visual side-effect of the Earth and Moon aligning." the Doctor explained. "We can't afford anything."

"Idiots, more like." Chara continued. "Also, you can have my bed. I don't need to sleep."

The Doctor began setting up some kind of mysterious machine, trained on the spot the soul has/had/would appear. He decided it would just be when if would appear. Chara floated next to them, recollection swirling in her eyes.

"…Doctor?..." Chara muttered.

"Yeh?" the Doctor replied, not even looking up.

"…What's your view on humans?..."

"…I think they're great. I mean, they're an evolutionary disaster, but look how far they've come. Well…not thus far, but…you know what I mean."

"…I don't share that view, really."

"…Why?..."

"…You know. You've watched over all of history, haven't you? Well, technically so have I. I was curious to see if humans were better in your universe. They're not."

"So they're different in your world?..."

"They're neither better nor worse. Look at this place. War. Killing. People enjoying watching other people die."

The Doctor was utterly silent.

"It's mentalities like that that lead to…l…lead to…you know."

"That genocide run you were talking about?..."

"Yes. That's right. Yes. The human wasn't…special. She didn't have anything wrong with her, or anything against monsters…"

"I can see why you'd hate them. I suppose for me it's just because I'm protecting their planet. And believe me, I've been doing it for as long as I can remember."

"Monsters are still better." Chara sighed, a faint smile on her face.

"Possibly agreed. Ah! We've got it ready. The machine that dings when there's stuff."

"I thought that only worked with Weeping Angels." Chara corrected.

"How'd you know that?" the Doctor asked.

"TARDIS told me everything…" Chara answered.

"Including-" the Doctor continued, stopping short. He didn't dare continue the sentence anywhere else but in his head. The Time War. Something in Chara's face told him that she knew, and knew it well. And respected him for it. Perhaps she knew so much she knew his reasoning. Or had done similar things herself.

Ding.

The Doctor cast an eye upon the seemingly empty air.

It was only a fox. A raggedy one, for that matter. It seemed…more fluid than a regular fox, more healthy, more sleek. Too perfect. It cast an eye directly at the Doctor and Chara, turned back, shook its head, and padded off in the opposite direction.

"Strange." the Doctor commented. "Oh, stop dinging, you stupid machine-"

"So it's a machine that goes ding that you don't want to go ding." Chara explained, noticing footsteps behind her.

"What's all this about?..." Papyrus mumbled, woken up by the loud dinging. "Is that some kind of machine that goes ding?...What's the point of that?"

"It goes ding when there's stuff." the Doctor explained, training the machine and focusing it.

"I can build a machine that electrocutes when there's stuff!" Papyrus boasted.

"As long as you get the human to hold the orb. Wouldn't have worked anyway. Time Lords, very resistant to stuff like that. Wouldn't have knocked me out even, let alone cause any real damage."

"Damn…" Papyrus muttered.

The fox was still there in the street when the Doctor came back to the machine, several hours later. It just…sat there. Not even bothering to scatter when a cart came along in the dead of night. The only time at which it fled was when the Doctor moved an inch towards it.

Why was he so interested, he wondered? Was he just being paranoid? Was he…just too used to trouble following him wherever he went?...

And when he looked back, it was gone, leaving footprints in its wake that shimmered a little.

The barman turned to see a beautiful young girl standing beside him. Her visage was fair but beaten, and she had tear marks beside her eyes. She looked…headstrong. Vulnerable.

"Greetings, mister." she whispered. "Do you mind if I…stay a while?..."

"Of course, but just for a little while, eh?" the barman replied, smiling a little at such an innocent youth out so late.

"A-alright…but…come here, first. I need to whisper something to you…"

"I…" the barman stuttered, but the girl already had her hand on his back. Before he could speak she was all over him, crying. Drunk, he thought. Drunk on mead, until he realised she was laughing, not weeping. Anything but.

"W-what are you…"

He could feel something beside his neck.

All three of them awoke to a loud blood-curdling scream from directly below.

"What the hell was THAT?-" Papyrus gasped, looking down the stairwell after leaping up from his bed. His view was blocked by the Doctor rushing downwards to a large crowd that had gathered. The attacker was gone. All that remained was the body of the barman that the Doctor had just seen, dead. Bitten, straight through the neck. No human had done this.

"Vampires!" one gasped.

"Now, now, let's not assume anything!" the Doctor corrected. "Everyone get back. I'll examine the body, stop any speculation."

The neck had been bitten, and judging by the wounds, it had been done by something incredibly sharp, sharpness not achievable even in the present day let alone in medival times. Not of this world, he thought, but not a vampire.

And the neck shone. The layer was so thin that he couldn't scrape off any reasonable amount, but…something was there. He just couldn't identify it.

"Doctor?..." Chara called from upstairs, making him suddenly turn.

"Not now, I'm busy!" he replied, turning back to the investigation.

"It's started dinging again." Chara answered anyway, returning. The Doctor suddenly took notice and cast a watchful eye towards the spot where the soul would appear. Still nothing.

Except…something caught his eye.

The footprints of the fox that he assumed were just wet prints…matched exactly. The same sheen. The same thing. There was a connection. It definitely wasn't a coincedence that the prints still shimmered and glowed.

He'd just have to keep watching. He waited tensely by the body, musing what he would do next. The public eyed him suspiciously.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could swear he saw the fox tilt its head.

He abandoned the body as he saw the coroner coming and rushed back into the inn room.

"The fox and the killing. They've got a connection, and it's not a normal fox. I took a sample of its prints and the substance found on the body, and though I can't identify exactly what it is I know they're the same thing." the Doctor explained.

"The question is, do we follow it now and risk our lives?" Chara asked.

"I have a proposal!" Papyrus exclaimed, suddenly seeing a solution. "I'm invisible, correct? I could go as a spy, of sorts, and monitor the fox's antics!"

"Ingenious. Might be trained to see through perception filters, though."

"I have a simple solution. It seems the last tennant left their clothes here. I shall disguise myself, so at first glace, I'll just look like a regular human!" Papyrus suggested, fitting a leather hood over his fedora.

"Good." Chara concluded. "…Doctor. The fox is nearby. You go follow it. We'll stay back there as backup."

Jeremiah's brother had just gone to bed, and he was the only one left in the empty house, cleaning up after his family.

The door creaked open.

It was a little girl. She wore tear marks, and was scuffed and broken-looking. She trembled and her head was lowered.

"I'm…lonely…and lost…can you help me?..." she whispered. "Please…help me…"

Jeremiah ran over to her and began to kneel. "What's the matter?...Who are your parents?...I might be able to find them."

The little girl hugged Jeremiah and began to tremble even more.

"My god, you're freezing!..." he said, taking genuine concern for her. She could feel her melting into him, embracing him like an older brother or a new friend after so much had happened to one.

It only took a second, and Jeremiah fell to the floor, dead. Not a scream, not a word. A smile still frozen on his face.

Papyrus couldn't help uttering a cry.

The Doctor watched as Papyrus shot out of the corridor with a look of true fear frozen on his face, scarf covered over mouth in disbelief. He turned backwards to see the fox slowly padding away. There was his evidence, right there. This fox was killing people. Immediately, he turned to follow it, brandishing his sonic screwdriver, padding across the cobbled streets while the fox ran for its life. Chara hovered even faster towards it, eliciting an appropriate reaction from the fox, who suddenly turned to face the Doctor.

Snarling at him, it began to advance. Papyrus rushed to defend him, summoning a bone to distract it, but that didn't work at all. "Get back!" the Doctor yelled as the fox began to snap at him. Chara phased straight through and began attempting to calm it, half-knowing it wasn't going to work.

But the fox stopped.

It tilted its head, and grinned.

"What the hell are you playing at?..." Chara asked the fox, not expecting a reply. But she got one in the form of a wider grin that clearly said:

"You know."

Lunging at the Doctor and brushing his leg with a freezing paw, the Doctor turned to run for his life, through the main square and corridor, the fox gaining on them every second, Papyrus desperately trying to throw it off. They careened into the now crowded bar, barring the door behind them as the fox scratched at persistently.

It left.

"It's…given up…" the Doctor gasped.

"It's found someone else." Chara muttered. "It's gotten bored, it knows we'll put up too much of a fight."

"If it's definitely not a fox, then what is it?..." Papyrus inquired, making his way cautiously up to the room they had rented.

"I have a hunch. I can't quite put my finger on it." Chara replied, following him. "I technically can't put my finger on anything, since I'm incorporeal, but…still."

Four people died that night.

"It knows we're trying to stop it and it's trying to get its killing spree over and done with before we do." the Doctor concluded. "There's no connection between the victims, at least not at first glance. I've asked around, been to funerals, and there's no connection. They're all in different circumstances. The only two with any connection are the two brothers."

"…List these circumstances." Chara ordered.

"The first one. All alone in life. Had a kid, but it's dead and it's his fault she did, slipped into a river while he wasn't looking. His wife left him several years ago."

"Mmhm." Chara replied. "Continue."

"The second one. A seven year old child. Papyrus said he practically welcomed in this…girl with open arms. I think we can establish that this girl and the fox are one and the same."

Chara looked shocked.

"The third one. A well-respected warrior, currently eloping with…another man!...Risky buisness in these days. From quite far away, the creature must have searched for it. It's not killing these people at random. The fourth one was incredibly popular among the community-"

"Oh no. Oh no. Oh no no no no." Chara whispered. "Let me guess. Next the older brother of the second one dies. Which means…I know who's next!-"

The party waited for Chara's answer with baited breath.

"The King of England. That's what's causing the disturbances in time and space. We're in the years leading up to the Battle of Agincourt! Henry the 5th dies tonight causing the loss of the Battle of Agincourt, leading to France invading England. Can you feel it, Doctor? History's changing." Chara explained, hyperventilating.

"And how…" the Doctor asked. "…do you know that?"

"This isn't just a random series of killings, it's a retelling. I've seen this turn of events happen before. The story matches up perfectly. Toriel, the lonely one without a child nor partner dying when they had the chance to care again, Papyrus, the one who opened his heart and paid with his life – you saw it, didn't you?" Chara explained, turning to Papyrus on her last sentence. "Undyne, the brave and respected lesbian fish warrior, I can't describe it any other way, Mettaton, the popular one, and finally Sans, the brother left alone and heartbroken. And finally, Asgore, the king of all monsters!"

"B-but…why would anyone do that?..." Papyrus asked, immediately eliciting a very harsh response.

"Because she thinks it's FUN. Because this is what she does for ENTERTAINMENT. She thinks it's oh so interesting to see everyone's swan song and the expression on their face, their reaction when they're betrayed, stabbed in the back!-"

Chara started hyperventilating, snarling at the very thought of her. For a brief second she told herself that these levels of hatred were dangerous, but…she held it back. You hate her, Chara. Go ahead and hate her. It'll motivate you.

There was silence.

"…We've got no time to waste, then!" Papyrus finally exclaimed, leading the Doctor out of the room.

"Oh, and…Chara?...Are you alright?..."

"I'm just…feeling a bit…passionate right now. Not in a good way." Chara explained, wiping away a single black tear.

"…I see…" Papyrus replied, placing a hand on Chara's shoulder. Chara felt somewhat relieved; perhaps it was just a misplaced reaction. She felt like she was reliving something, and that thing was her early childhood.

Asriel, she thought.

"Sorry, just got to borrow two horses, you know?" the Doctor explained. "Death of the king and whatnot. "Thanks. Bye!"

Away they rode. The Doctor already knew the layout of Medival England and knew his way to the king's castle. Monmouthshire, he thought, not too far away. A thirty minute ride. Problem was, the fox-girl had already set off for the castle. Safe to say, they'd have to go incredibly quickly.

Papyrus was understandably trailing behind the Doctor; one had literally rode a horse through a Time Window/mirror, fallen to the ballroom floor quite a way below, and not even broken a sweat, while the other had never even ridden anything before. However, he seemed to be getting the hang of it as they crashed through a pair of gates into the country side, the hooves of the pair of horses thumping on the ground with ever increasing speed.

Chara hovered in front of them, using the navigation skills granted by the TARDIS to act as a beacon, casting a dim light onto the countryside. Papyrus turned to the Doctor to give him a wink to tell him he was doing fine, but a girl running several hills ahead caught his eye. The exact same girl that killed the boy, he thought.

"AFTER HER!" Papyrus exclaimed, pointing towards the shadow on the horizon. He threw the whip attached to the reins to the inviting grass and used his boots instead to signal the horse to speed up. The Doctor, hoping to cut her off, took a sharp turn, but something appeared to be happening to the girl. Her locks began to lengthen and lose their shape, drips of herself began to drop to the ground, and before the Doctor could open his mouth to gasp in amazement, the fox reformed from the sludge and began hurtling towards the horizon. Not even Chara could catch up to it. Papyrus, imitating a trumpet on a fox-hunt, began following it in vain- it dashed off to the side into a deep forest.

"Don't follow it!" the Doctor advised. "All we can do its get to Montmouthshire before the fox can, even if it's otherworldly, it's evaded us at a cost of speed!"

The paths became roads, and the roads became cobble and Montmouthshire loomed in the distance. The castle, the Doctor thought, we have to get there quickly, as a black shape darted across the horizon. The crowds turned as a coated man, a floating angel and a horse without a rider careened down the cobbled streets and alleyways, headed straight to the residence of the king.

As they approached, the Doctor began to notice guards around the castle, a stained glass window betraying a scene: an argument between king and advisor. If the king died now, history would change beyond repair. He watched as the fox slipped straight in through a arrow-hole.

There was only one way to get in.

"You can't be serious!-" Papyrus gasped, when his horse began following the Doctor's straight towards the stained glass window.

"You've jumped out of windows before, why can't you jump into one?-" the Doctor argued, motioning for his horse to jump.

Breaking of glass. Screaming. Henry V backed away. "What the blazes do you think you're doing?!" he gasped, unaware of the small girl that was tiptoeing towards him.

"BEHIND YOU!" the Doctor screamed. The king turned, beholding a seemingly innocent little girl. He quickly checked it over, what danger could this girl hold?...

The girl took a glance at the Doctor, and smiled incredibly widely, almost unnaturally wide. The king, unsettled, called for his guards to detain her.

And that was when she lunged.

The Doctor leapt in Henry's path, arm upheld. The creature's fangs plunged into the Doctor's arm, draining him not of blood but something else entirely. He watched as its form changed into that of a wolf. Suddenly, it was literally lifted out of its position by a bone that heaved it outwards of his arm and onto the floor. Clutching his arm, the Doctor felt himself being dragged backwards; hadthe guards decided to detain him, he thought?...No. Of course, he thought.

"You'll get yourself seen!" the Doctor hissed to Papyrus, as he friend clasped a red glove over his wound.

"Doesn't matter!" Papyrus whispered in reply. "A good soldier never abandons his comrade!"

Chara was hovering above the fox, attempting to distract the fox by showing herself, hoping in vain it shared the conciousness she half-hoped it did, but was overshadowed by the guards that rushed to defend the king, but as the Doctor watched, none of their weapons were working.

They phased right through them. Any touch would just be avoided.

ABSORBED, FAILURE, BUT IT DIDN'T WORK, the fox hissed through static. The Doctor felt recollection stir within him, and all of a sudden it all came together. The substance on every body. The pawprints. The sludge, the reformation. Papyrus helped him up as he too sensed that the Doctor had an idea. The guards were failing, many were already dead from the creature's bite, and as the Doctor's vision cleared, he saw that the creature already had Henry pinned. He screamed for the creature's mercy, and the Doctor once again came between the two, setting his sonic screwdriver to its strongest destabilization setting.

The creature was coming down on him with massive fangs, he could see them beginning to blunt. Suddenly, instantaneously, the entity dissolved.

Henry V had fainted. The Doctor took a proper sample at last: the molecules had come apart, and the sentience gone, but the red goo that remained was exactly what he thought it was: DETERMINATION.

Papyrus came to see what on earth was going on. "Don't touch it. I've seen what this stuff can do to monsters that intake too much of it. You've seen that…weird, amorphous dog?"

"Yes!...He's…really cute, actually!" Papyrus replied, still shocked by the turn of events that just happened.

"The whole thing was made of liquid determination, shaped into a physical form. That's how it could shapeshift…It's like an amalgamate, but it wasn't anything to begin with…"

"So that's what she was doing when she expelled the excess Determination she possessed, way back when I was stuck in the void." Chara concluded. "She's given it sentience. Just like a traditional god. Also, you know that pocket version of the machine that goes ding?"

The machine that went ding went ding.

"…yeah." Chara concluded, looking up at a very angry Henry V.

"Explain yourselves." he snapped.

"Sorry, we're just…occupied at the moment. Got to go and play a game of tennis. I do have some spare tennis balls, if you want them." the Doctor explained, before taking the hands of his two companions and leaping on their horses.

They arrived back at the location of the soul just as the clock struck midnight. No-one saw the red glow of the last fragment of Chara's soul.

Chara walked forward to touch it and absorb it.

"Doctor. Are you sure you are ready?..." she asked, turning backwards. "As soon as I touch this last fragment of the soul…the plan must be put into action."

The Doctor nodded. He felt that pressing need to save the universe again.

Chara touched the soul fragment, and it was drawn to her. The leaves that were scattered around the square swirled around her as the last fragments of any sign that she was digital faded away. Her shirt creased and flew in the wind, and she felt something rise within her.

Hope.

She hadn't felt it for a long time.

It was hope for the end.

The end of the war.

She felt that it was coming.

She floated straight into the TARDIS, and immediately began setting the controls to a place she'd been meaning to go for a long time.

"This is it, you two." she declared. "The whole of creation depends on what we do here. It's not a question of FIGHT of MERCY anymore. All that matters now is if we succeed or die!"


	13. WhoTale Finale Part 1: The Fallen God

The TARDIS careened through the void, passing effortlessly through the barrier that had been their only blockage for such a long time. And…it was strangely silent. Chara was very solemn, and you could swear her eyes disappeared beneath a shadow.

"Chara?...What exactly is this…Fallen God? Universes' worst nightmare?..." Papyrus asked, confused and a little shaken.

"I've been wondering the same thing myself." the Doctor noted, keeping an eye on the co-ordinates.

"A human. Well- genetically human. Maybe not even that. She's a being with seven human souls under her control. Basically a god."

"Question." the Doctor questioned. "Why hasn't she destroyed the world already?"

"Because it's too easy." Chara replied. "You've got to understand, you two, that it's all a game to her. But she doesn't have complete power. She has good attacks, the ability to destroy the Earth, but…her power is limited. And, most importantly, she's completely insane. Don't take this the wrong way, but there will be no MERCY against her."

"I see what you mean." the Doctor replied. Papyrus walked over to Chara and quietly asked her, "You mean…no MERCY that…the other me gave to her, way back then?..."

"Yes. Exactly that kind of Mercy." Chara explained. "I shouldn't have told him she was human. He always tries to have Mercy on humans, and you know what happens to anyone who tries to give her Mercy."

"Got it. I'll…keep him in check!"

"I might do that. Either that or I'll do all the talking."

The Doctor was packing his jacket with everything he might need. A Vortex Manipulator, Unoffical MK II Dimension Crossing Edition. An infostamp. Always useful. Everything else, which included jelly babies. Slowly, he ascended from his little compartment which he was currently sifting through.

The TARDIS was just waiting for him to step outside.

And step outside he did. Papyrus followed after him, excited for the adventure that always followed, but took his foot back immediately after seeing that there was seemingly nothing beneath him.

Just…blackness. As far as the eye could see, downwards, upwards, left, right, every way possible.

"It's alright. We're on solid ground." the Doctor concluded, feeling the ground beneath his feet; impossibly smooth, but completely invisible.

Papyrus cautiously took his first step. He was…safe. But…he felt uneasy. Convincing himself that everything was…all good…he caught up to the Doctor, who was making his way towards the only other source of colour in the room, a tiny point of yellow. A Save Point.

Chara, however, was already there. She kept glancing backwards towards the approaching pair. Saying nothing. It was like she was beside a sleeping bear, hoping not to wake it.

Finally, they arrived. They stood by the Save point. Was…this the fallen god?...Or a precious point to SAVE at?...

"Are you two ready?" she asked.

The Doctor gave a small nod.

"Let me do all the talking." she whispered in reply. She bowed her head. That's you in there, isn't it?...Changing your form to give us hope before tearing it away. You know we're not idiots like the rest. Hardly.

"Greetings…Are you there?" Chara declared at last. "It's me. Your worst enemy."

The Save point appeared to gain a slick complexion before immediately transforming into a human-like figure. It looked almost exactly like Chara, but wearing a torn and ragged blue shirt with two purple stripes instead of one. But her face matched the face that Chara had worn when they and the pair behind her first met; the unsettling one, the eerie one that betrayed nothing.

It was almost like she was intentionally mimicking her.

"Greetings, Chara. Have you come to reconsider?" she hissed, beginning to hover. "After all those things that happened, I'd hardly think it was the mere destruction of a few planets that would push you over the edge."

"No." Chara replied, adamant. "Haven't you gotten tired of this?..."

"I'm as determined as you are." the human replied, moving closer.

"Frisk, let's just get down to buisness. I have detected the universe could near its end if you aren't stopped, just as I predicted." Chara explained.

"And how are you going to deal with it this time, Chara?..."

"By any means nessecary."

"The same way as the last time the universe was threatened?..."

"Stop it." Chara snapped.

"Righteous dest-"

"I SAID STOP IT!-" Chara yelled, running towards Frisk shoulder outstretched, preparing to attack her. She took several furious swipes at her, using the old and rusty TARDIS attack circuits to attempt to harm a god.

"…All I shall say is that you and your new accomplice are birds of a feather." Frisk concluded, after Chara had calmed down and given up. "Don't think I haven't noticed your two friends."

"Allo." the Doctor replied, stepping forward. "So…Fallen God?...I've heard quite a bit about you. About how you think the world's a game. So tell me…if all the world's a game, and all its myriad of humans, aliens and monsters merely pawns in a greater plan, then what's your end goal? Hmmm? Your quest to be completed."

"To see everything that is, was, and could be, Doctor, every possible event." the Fallen God answered "I have read every book. Burnt every book. I have saved the universe and I haven't yet destroyed it. That's my goal, Doctor!..."

"And have you ever looked back and thought: maybe you're taking this a bit far? You've devastated a race beyond repair, destroyed a couple of planets, and then you look back and think…should I maybe stop at this point? No, you say, because I wonder what happens if I push this big red button that says destroy the universe?..."

"If you're implying that I have guilt within me, then you would be incorrect. I am incapable of it now, and I never was nor will!"

"OBJECTION!" Papyrus shouted. "I saw you directly after you killed me, and you seemed pretty torn up about it!" "And for good reason too…" he muttered under his breath.

"Papyrus?...I never thought I'd see you and the Doctor together. I'd have to blame the Doctor on this front, though. Inviting into the TARDIS one who was barred from the Royal Guard the instant Undyne saw them!"

Papyrus was amazed, immediately realising what she'd just told him. No! It wasn't true, he thought, it couldn't be true!...

"So you were a pacifist once." the Doctor concluded.

"Yes."

"So how did you change? Because I can sense that it's still the same person in there. That you aren't under any mind control."

"It's her LOVE." Chara explained, not wanting the Fallen God to say another word. "Every time she kills, she distances herself more from her future actions. It's gotten to the point where she can't feel anything from her actions."

"You could say that." the human replied. "But let's cut the chat. I have some explaining to do."

"And why would you just explain your plans to us right off the bat?!" Papyrus asked.

"Because that's what all antagonists do, correct?"

"But don't all villains get defeated by the heroes in the end?..."

"Not all the time. Now will you just let me explain?!"

For some reason, everyone fell silent immediately.

"Before you ask, I've been responsible for two things. The abnormal appearance of the Reset screen, and the possession of the human you saw."

"Wait, wait, hold the presses!" Papyrus gasped. "You…possessed…yourself?"

"My past self, indeed. Otherwise she would have reset the timeline, quit the game forever and everything I'd have done would have been erased. And I couldn't have that now, could I?...I did everything I could to stop you getting to that point, so I wouldn't have to possess myself…and…give myself these unsightly deformities…"

The Fallen God held up her hand, which now possessed metal bones and withered skin.

"It hurts. And you know what, Papyrus?...It's all your fault that I've got this. Anyway, back onto the topic. I tried everything. Possessing that ship I landed you on and almost drowning you. Taking mild control over the Doctor's mind back there in London. Giving Imphotep the idea of creating a ressurection machine. Sending the hypnotizing signals to the party ship. I even gave Sans nightmares and I told him again and again DON'T MAKE THE CIRCUIT. Something for you to look forward to. But you had to come to the Genocide timeline and set HER free."

"And what's wrong with that?" the Doctor asked, stepping forward.

"Everything! Do you know-"

"the things she's done?!" Chara spat, finishing the sentence. "The infinite evils she's committed, which infinitely overshadow mine! The things you should go back into the TARDIS and rip her limb from limb for! Well, I've had enough of that from my own conscience."

"Chara?...You've changed. You always used to regret those things. You've taken a turnabout."

"Because now, it's not just me that knows what I've done and judged me for it. And their verdict is not guilty." Chara replied, remembering all those times that Papyrus had helped her, told her that he was still her friend, not matter what her past told him. She didn't quite want to believe it, to continue thinking that she was the true villain and Frisk was just another maniac. But…she couldn't let that happen. There was something stopping her.

"I've regained my determination now. I'm not as distanced as you think I am. My LOVE will only distance me if I want it to!-"

"So who is this judge? I doubt the Doctor would forgive you despite his similar actions. Sans wouldn't forgive you, based off his reaction to me. Then I assume…"

The Fallen God grimaced, and tittered.

"He believes in you, doesn't he?"

Chara was completely silent, knowing that any response would trigger a brutal retaliation.

"Papyrus, you never change, do you?...There's a reason the flower loved to play with you so often and so much. You'd…actually forgive her?..."

Papyrus nodded. "Of course."

"She's using you. Using you like she used Asriel."

"Stop it." Papyrus replied. "I know she isn't. I decide what I think about her, thankyou very much!"

"I'll leave your opinions alone. All I'll say is she has a habit of getting people killed."

Chara looked up in horror. Was she-

"Are you implying…that I've been responsible for every death you committed with your own hand?..."

"Yes. Now, let's get-" the Fallen God replied, in an on-the-side fashion.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Chara gasped. Before the Fallen God could react, Chara was upon her. The hate she had kept locked within her for so long for fear of becoming like her was leaking out- she no longer knew that the Fallen God was evil; she was just an opponent, she was their opponent, and if she was EVIL, SO BE IT! The Doctor looked on as the TARDIS chugged far behind him: Chara was using the TARDIS' long-rusted attack circuits- he never knew the Type 40 had attack mechanisms…

The Fallen God had Chara pinned in a second, then Chara had her pinned in the next. Writhing and flailing, the Fallen God found a second to hold back the Doctor and Papyrus with a barrier, who were rushing to the fight to help Chara: it was one on one now.

"I'VE BEEN WAITING A LONG TIME FOR THIS!" Chara yelled, as she slowly gained the advantage. The gravitational attack mechanism drove the Fallen God to the ground, to lie there. Chara was completely incorporeal, perhaps even invincible.

The Fallen God realised she had made a grave mistake. Not in angering Chara, but locking the Doctor away. She knew that he was the only conscience she had-

"How does it feel now? To not be in control?" Chara asked the Fallen God, poised to attack with a disintergrator beam that hadn't been used in 900 years.

"P-please…don't kill me…" the Fallen God whispered.

Chara felt something stir within her. Mercy. No. NO! YOU SPARE OF YOUR OWN ACCORD! She can't force you to do anything! She is your opponent, mortal enemy, the one that killed your family five times over, the one that tortured you in the void for a thousand years-

The Doctor looked on in horror as Chara killed the fallen god. Her seven human Souls rose into the air and shattered in unison. Broken down the middle. Chara smiled, as if she was possessed; perhaps this was the persona she adopted when she was filled with hate and rage.

Chara looked at the seven souls as they began to break apart.

Suddenly, like a film being played backwards, the souls reformed.

"But it refused." the Fallen God whispered, as she got up from the ground and the burn marks disappeared. Instantly, she imprisoned Chara in a digital cage, glowing red in the darkness. Desperately, she tried to teleport out, but the cage kept her there, powerless.

She watched in horror as her soul began to be drawn out of her body. Its path stuttered as Chara tried to resist, but to no avail. Yelling Chara's name, Papyrus ran straight through the barrier which disappeared as the Fallen God focused all her power on Chara's soul. He reached his hand through the electrical cage's bars, trying to pull Chara out of the god's reach, but no luck.

The Fallen God reached out to touch the soul; infinite power just within her reach.

Chara's image flickered and distorted.

And disappeared, along with her soul. The Fallen God looked up in horror.

The Doctor was standing back to her, pointing the sonic screwdriver directly towards the TARDIS.

"She's safe now." the Doctor explained. "Locked within the TARDIS, where you can't get to her."

"Curse you." the Fallen God snarled.

"So, now we have that out of the way, I need to ask you the most important question. Chara told me that the Earth was in your hands. No other planet other than your own. So how can you turn other planets into dust from all the way out here?"

"I'll explain later." the Fallen God replied.

"And how?...have you had influences in other universes?"

"The dimensional breaches. I only opened them further and further. It won't be just the one Earth that dies…it'll be all of them."

"A-ha!" Papyrus gasped. "You're the one that let the metal man, through, correct?"

"No. They were just a mistake, though. My followers didn't want me to give him any help, and as I didn't want to waste my power, I obliged."

The Doctor looked quite amazed. She had…followers. Of course, he thought, you couldn't be a god without followers, could you?...

"…Who are your followers?..." the Doctor asked.

"Guess, Doctor, guess. If I show you two where we are, it'll answer all your questions. I'm surprised you haven't actually asked me yet." the Fallen God answered.

The Doctor paused. The smell of metal in the air, or blood perhaps, became more apparent every second.

"…Where are we?" the Doctor asked, a grave expression on his face.

The Fallen God raised her hand into the air. A ball of light appeared and all the darkness in the room appeared to be sucked into it. For a moment, all they could see was a bright white, until dark colors began to be restored. Papyrus looked down and saw a shining metal floor beneath his feet.

They were alone in a room which the Doctor recognized. Fear suddenly imprinted itself into his face, and the Fallen God smiled in satisfaction and started laughing madly, her eyes turning completely black.

Two doors hissed open on either side of them, and from them poured her followers. They looked up to her as she laughed at the two travellers, and, suddenly, all in unison, they screamed the words the Doctor had heard a thousand times.

"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"


	14. WhoTale Season 1 FINALE: DETERMINATION

Daleks. They were on a Dalek spaceship, the Doctor thought.

Something snapped within the Doctor. Almost every time the Daleks had come into play he had lost so much; Donna came sharply into his mind…and…and Rose…and everyone else. Something told him that someone would die today and he thought: NO! He wouldn't let it happen again. He fumbled around in his pocket for the vortex manipuator.

"Run!" he gasped, grabbing Papyrus' hand and running headlong down a corridor. No Daleks, the Doctor thought. No Daleks, yet.

"What the blazes are those things!?" Papyrus asked, frantically running, occasionally ahead of the Doctor.

"Daleks! They're completely void of emotion and the deadliest race in the universe!" the Doctor answered, briefly pulling them both to the floor as shots hit the wall in front of them. Skidding sideways, the Doctor pulled Papyrus into a side room, barring the door. He only had a few seconds. A few seconds to at least save someone.

"Well, surely we can find their weakspot!" Papyrus suggested, hoping they'd come up with a reasonable plan. He found himself with something strapped around his wrist. "Wait- what are you doing?!" he asked, as the Doctor set the co-ordinates, time and dimension.

"Papyrus. I promised your brother I'd keep you safe. The Daleks are the most dangerous creatures in the universe and the Fallen God wants you and I both dead." the Doctor explained, taking a worried look towrds the door. He could hear them already, attempting to crack the code he'd set on the door.

"You aren't going to…send me…home?...are you?..." Papyrus asked nervously.

"I'm coming back for you, alright?" the Doctor replied, pressing the activation button on the Vortex Manipulator, and setting the controls to shut down permanently after use. A countdown started, and before Papyrus could open his mouth to protest, he disappeared in a flash of blue light.

The Doctor looked towards the open door.

A shot, and everything went black.

Papyrus crashed to the ground. Looking up, he was no longer on the Dalek spaceship. In fact, he was in his backyard. It was like…everything, the Doctor, the Daleks, Chara, everything, had never been real, and he'd just woken up from a dream. But…he had his fedora on, that couldn't be right…

It was sunset where he was standing, and he cast a huge shadow.

No, he thought, the Doctor can't have just sent me back!...he frantically starting pushing at the buttons on the strange device the Doctor had given him. It just told him that the machine was corrupted, and before he could try again the device shut down for good.

He'd just…abandoned him…wait, that can't be right…he'd…sent him back. For his safety. Taken the time to send him back. And the last thing he'd seen was…

Daleks. Those…things. Peeking through the door just before everything turned white and he was tumbling back through the Time Vortex. And he could hear for a fair while…he heard…shooting….

"The deadliest race in the universe."

The Doctor…with…no defenses…up against…those creatures…so fearful the Doctor knew he'd…die to them…

"I'm coming back for you, alright?..."

What if…that was just…consolation?...

Papyrus felt tears form in his eyes as he considered the worst, but before they escaped, he heard the back door creak open.

"what the hell was- oh my god!" his brother gasped as he saw Papyrus lying there in the grass. "you're back!"

Papyrus couldn't quite find the strength to get up: the trip via Vortex Manipulator had been quite…shaky to say the least. But what he could definitely find was the strength to hug his brother, not a word spoken, just a strong bear hug like he'd often given him.

"S-sans!...I…I've got…so much to tell you about…" Papyrus stammered, not knowing quite what to say.

"come in, bro. i had some spaghetti ready for ya." Sans replied, helping Papyrus into the kitchen. It looked largely the same, albeit a bit larger; the sofa was still where they ate dinner. Sans couldn't quite help noticing that his infectious smile was gone…for some reason.

The Doctor awoke. He hadn't expected to live. In fact, he had been captured. Once again, he was in the throne, this time imprisoned in a barrier similar to the ones he'd seen on Davros' ship, way back when he lost Donna Noble. The Fallen God sat in a metallic throne above him. Regaining his confidence, the Doctor literally stood up to her, meeting eye to eye. So many questions, and, as he feared, so little time.

"How did you get the Daleks to have mercy on you?! You're a human." he asked, finally choosing an appropriate one. "Daleks are programmed to destroy anything that isn't a Dalek themselves."

"Maybe they think I'm one of them. I don't know myself, but I do my best to milk the situation for everything it's got." the Fallen God replied.

My god, the Doctor thought, she's actually in control of them. It's like Davros and the Daleks all over again.

No. No. You're just stating the obvious, Doctor. More important things. More important things to be done. First, first, let Papyrus know-

"Nah-ah-ah." the Fallen God tittered, watching the Doctor take his mobile phone out of his pocket. He could just see…he had at least ten texts, all of them asking him if he was alright. His phone was gravitated out of his pocket, and vaporized by a Dalek standing by the Fallen God.

"Phone confiscated. You'll have it back by the end of the universe." the Fallen God laughed. "Face it, Doctor. You aren't in control anymore. How does it feel? To be imprisoned? You knew this would happen. You just had to save someone, even if it meant condemning yourself to an even worse end. Ha…you idiot!"

Papyrus had told Sans about every little detail of their adventures with the Doctor, from the time they visited the other diamond planet of the Seven Systems to the time they watched the launch of Apollo 11, the time he had swum in the Nile River to escape a black lion and a hippopotamus, to the time he swung across a factory roof, only to fall, live and walk away, albeit with a cut to his leg.

He had just gotten to the part where they were on the Dalek spaceship. Near the end of the long story that might be over.

"And then…he…he sent me home. And…just before I left…there were the Daleks….p-peeking through the door…and then I…ended up here. I'm just…very worried right now. That's why I…you know…am…a bit unhappy."

Sans gave him a comforting pat on the back.

"But…it's alright!...I'm confident he'll come back!...he…he always does!"

Sans moved a little closer to his brother, hoping to cheer him up a little, and this time he knew puns wouldn't really work in such a serious situation.

"I'm sure he will too, Pappy." he noted. "I'll keep watch for his little blue box tonight."

"Thanks, brother. I…appreciate it. You know?..." Papyrus replied, and continued eating dinner, in silence for once.

Papyrus couldn't sleep that night at all, even with a bedtime story. Too much worry about what had happened to the Doctor, and Chara as well…the TARDIS was on board the Dalek ship as well…so… what if?...what if?...

It was no use, he concluded. Getting up from his racecar bed, he looked out of the balcony, walking down the steps beside them, and looked out onto the countryside. Sans…had chosen a nice place to live, almost like Snowdin, but…not. Rocks and rivers stretched out onto the clear valley below, and stars lit the moisture that was ever present on the ground. Perhaps it might start snowing again soon, he wondered. Slowly, he began to meander down the hill, down to a stretch of rocks. Perhaps…just sitting there would help him calm down just a bit.

He couldn't quite bring himself to look at the stars now. He knew it'd only make him get all…emotional again, and he certainly didn't want anyone seeing that. Instead, he just kicked a few loose stones down the hill, watching them bounce and gain momentum as they approached the inviting river.

Papyrus wished he could just forget everything that had just come to pass, but he just couldn't let go of it. He just…couldn't, not after how much he…and him had gone through…he just couldn't get rid of the worry. Perhaps he didn't want…to?...

He was right, he concluded, he didn't want to stop worrying. He was just…too compassionate, he his head drift towards the sky, he saw a blue streak shine across the night sky, which seemed more bare than usual.

The next thing he saw was a blue light playing out across the dark midnight valley, cast by a single point. In an instant Papyrus was practically sliding down the rocky hill, rushing to see what he had hoped he'd see. Could it be?- It had to be!-

It wasn't what he expected.

But he still smiled, anyway.

"Greetings, Papyrus." Chara whispered.

"Chara! Oh my god, you're alive! You're alive!" Papyrus gasped. "What happened back there!...Is the Doctor alive?!"

"He is alive, but in grave danger." Chara answered. "…I just came to see how you were doing, and to be the harbringer of…news. Not really good news nor bad."

"I'm just glad you're alright…" Papyrus replied. "Wait! I have an idea. You can control the TARDIS, can't you?! You can bring the TARDIS here and we can go save the Doctor!"

"The Doctor knew I'd try that. Either that, or the Daleks would. He placed a lock on the TARDIS. Nigh unbreakable."

"Oh...well…that plan's gone…but still!" Papyrus sighed. Still Chara could feel the energy and enthusiasm radiating from him.

"Why are you still…so happy?..." Chara asked. "Oh…right. Hope. I see now, I'm sorry."

"Oh, there's no need to apologize." Papyrus reassured her.

"It's just…I lost hope a long time ago. And then…I regained it. I'm still getting used to it, you know?...Anyway. What do you recommend we do?..."

"I have no idea…Maybe work at trying to find another way back?..." Papyrus suggested.

"I suppose that is all we can do." Chara replied.

They sat by the rocky river, the gentle sounds of the water caressing them both, the grass blowing in the gentle wind and the light of the stars reflecting perfectly off the brook. They didn't even realise it was midnight.

"Open breaches to full." the Fallen God ordered.

The Doctor's face creased in worry. How exactly was she going to open the- he knew. A reset screen appeared beside him, and spacetime rippled and swirled in the immediate area.

"This is the key, Doctor. If it were ever to get too much for me, I could just press that button, and everything I had ever done never will have happened."

"So that's what you're going to do when the universe is destroyed by your hands. Just reset. And what will you do then?..."

"Except I won't reset. I can't get a bad ending if the story never ends. I have that keeping me going. The knowledge that there are no consequences in this world."

"Except, if you destroy reality itself, you won't be able to reset anymore." the Doctor pointed out. "You'll have nothing to strive for."

"This whole reality-destroying plan?...wasn't entirely my idea. STILL!...I demand you to be silent!"

The Doctor was silent anyway. Not entirely my plan? Did she even realise what she'd gotten herself into?

Several thousand light years away, Sans woke up to find not just Papyrus leaning over the balcony, but someone else as well.

"Good news, brother!" Papyrus called downstairs. "I have gotten wind that the Doctor is alive and…not exactly well, but still!..."

"nice. also, who's that?" his brother asked, pointing to Chara. "wait. don't tell me. the first human."

"In the flesh!" Papyrus declared, before immediately realising she was just a hologram, still.

"Oh!...Sans. I don't believe we've met. I can't be sure, can I?..." Chara asked Sans, hovering down the stairs.

"nope." Sans replied. "so…you're a hologram of the first human that somehow became friends with my bro. wow. weird story."

"After hearing about how I bravely fended off a lion while swimming in the Nile River? I don't think so." Papyrus protested, walking over to the kitchen to fetch some store-bought pancakes for breakfast.

"So…do you mind if I stay?...we're currently trying to find a way to get back to the Doctor." Chara asked Sans.

"eh. i don't mind. holograms don't need much in the way of accomodation, anyway." Sans replied, trying and failing to get the syrup out of the bottle.

"Wonderful." Chara replied.

The Doctor looked on in amazement as the Daleks appeared to be…praising her. The Daleks, praying to a god. No, he thought. He knew the Daleks were…oh, he didn't know. It was just too confusing. Were these even Daleks at all?

Lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling, Papyrus was, in a sense, having his first sleepover. Pyjama party. Whatever he wanted to call it. For the larger part of the day they had forgotten their worries for the most part…walked in the valley…watched the river flow. Many of the things Chara and Asriel had once done together. Many people had told her, like all those useless, generic school therapists, had told her that it was wrong to live in the past. Actually, she thought, if you avoided the uncomfortable things, and focused on the good times…it was a very good partial healer. After that they had come back to Papyrus' room, making plans for how they'd get to the Doctor, quite complex plans for who were essentially two teenagers. But…uncomfortable questions kept rising to Papyrus' mind. He didn't quite want to address them, but…he'd have to sometime.

"B-by…grave danger…what do you mean?..." Papyrus asked Chara, who was hovering near the balcony, watching the stars with an intent eye.

"He's being held captive." Chara replied, looking up from the mock blueprint of a Vortex Manipulator. "I saw, just for a moment as I left the TARDIS for Earth. He was being imprisoned in some kind of capsule. I don't know why they're giving mercy to him, the Fallen God and her horde of Daleks of all people. Personally, I…don't want to know. I don't think it's mercy at all…just them being sadistic."

"Has the Doctor got a phobia of the Daleks or something?" Papyrus asked.

Chara actually laughed at this proposition. "Maybe he does. I'm not one to know…"

There was a long silence as Papyrus continued working on the Vortex Manipulator.

"Thanks for coming, by the way! I confess, I was actually quite worried about you too."

"…Really?...Honestly, I…didn't expect this…at all. I've…never really had someone care at all. Frisk never really cared. And then…she…did what she did…and bullied me for a thousand years. N-not without good reason, but…you know. Ha…ha…ha…"

Papyrus was actually quite moved, and quickly went to join Chara by the balcony. They stood in silence together, half-satisfied, half…neither of them quite knew what the other half was.

"So…what are you going to do after we've dealt with this threat? We could be like a trio! The Infinite Doctor, the Great Papyrus and the Mysterious Chara!" Papyrus asked, staring up at the sky.

"I don't know, really. I…haven't thought about it at all…"

"But the end's in sight! The long battle finally ending! Aren't you excited?"

"No. Not really." Chara answered, bluntly.

"Oh. Well, I'm quite enjoying this kind of friendship! So…maybe this can continue, except without the pervading threat of this Fallen God. Honestly, that always ruins things!"

Chara laughed again. "You're actually funnier than your brother sometimes, you know." she stated. "Puns are one of the lowest forms of humor, in my opinion."

The Doctor lay in the small capsule barrier for several days.

"Why did you even have mercy on me in the first place? The Daleks want me dead more than any other being in the universe!" he asked, face filled with rage like a lion trapped in a circus cage.

"I want you to see this." the Fallen God replied. "Did you even consider the outcome when Papyrus was sent to Earth?...

Several days of trying to get the Vortex Manipulator to work later…

Papyrus and Chara were walking far down the valley. Papyrus had been getting more and more worried about the Doctor, and though he tried to hide his worry as he always did, Chara could tell. He'd glance at the sky more and more often, hoping that the Doctor might come flying over.

"Are you sure you can't…go back and check…one last time?..." Papyrus asked Chara.

"Too risky. The Fallen God's got a constant monitor on the TARDIS. She'll try and…get my soul the way she did before. Now I've got no physical body, it's incredibly easy to get my soul out of my body." Chara explained.

"…He told me he had to wait for a whole year once. M-maybe it's like that!...Question is…you said that…the Fallen God's just keeping him as a trophy, though?..."

"Yes. I'm…keeping a constant watch on the Dalek communication signals. They're keeping relatively radio silent. Either that or all the signals are encoded and they know we're listening. They're just waiting. Doing nothing."

"Probably the latter." Papyrus suggested. "We all know we're dealing with someone sneaky here!...A sneaky little liar."

"…When did she lie? That's the worst part, everything she says is the truth."

"You know! About the Royal Guard. She said Undyne was never going to let me in, and…of course that can't be true!..."

"I'm afraid so, Papyrus." Chara informed him.

Papyrus was silent. W-what?, he was thinking, how could Undyne have rejected me for so long?...Why didn't she just tell me?...If there was one thing he didn't like it was being lied to. Almost…betrayed. Very much betrayed in every sense of the word.

"I know it's very hypocritical of me to say this, but…look on the bright side." Chara told him, giving him a weak smile. "The exact faults that meant Undyne would never let you become a soldier…are the exact virtues that meant the Doctor let you become his companion."

"You're not making sense!" Papyrus protested, hardly seeing at first what Chara truly meant.

"I never do, do I?...I can see why I don't in this case, though. But…do you know why the Doctor has companions?..." Chara asked him, reaching the end of a winding path, and sitting on a picket fence.

"To help him?" Papyrus suggested, sitting down as well and looking up at the night sky.

"That's what he thought they were for at first, way back when he had a granddaughter…but then he realised why he really needed them."

Chara took a pause, remembering all those bittersweet memories the TARDIS had given her.

"He needs them to keep him in check. And you're perfect for that. You're…naïve…childish…the kind of person that prefers if the villains just get away with a lesson learnt and not killed. But you're brave and very, very kind at the same time."

"Really?!" Papyrus gasped, flattered. "…Wait a second. Why would he need…keeping in check?..."

"He's…not a good man, really. You know when I was telling you about…what I did?...And…how I nearly told you about how…how he could relate. It's not my duty to tell you the details, but…you get the idea."

Papyrus gulped as he realised what that entailed. How all his people had been…no, it couldn't be…wait, no, Chara always told the truth, right?...

"Still want to save him?" Chara asked Papyrus.

"Haven't you gotten it yet, Chara?...It doesn't matter to me what they've done, they're still my friends!" Papyrus replied, a little impatient.

"That's…an interesting philosophy." Chara replied.

The Doctor was laid on the floor, looking to any Dalek like he was dead. His sonic screwdriver was positioned towards the main control system, hoping to override any Dalek communications at least.

Suddenly, it was ripped out of his hands. She's all-seeing, the Doctor thought, she can read my thoughts.

"Give the order." one of the Daleks commanded.

Papyrus couldn't sleep that night either, not without the stars. Ten minutes ago as they watched the sky out their window, talking about galaxies far away, when every single star went out. Like a switch being flicked off. Chara winced as she realised how many civilizations had been killed off in that moment.

"Papyrus…are you still awake?..." Chara asked, still hovering beside the balcony. "I…have an idea."

Papyrus woke up fully with a start. "You have an idea?! Wonderful, what is it?"

Lately he'd gotten more and more panicky. Even if this was another terrible one he was very much prepared to try it.

"Recently I got a transmission from the Dalek spaceship, and…it said the Doctor was to be exterminated. We don't have much time left. This is…a last resort, but…"

Chara held out her soul. Complete and red as blood, it pulsed with life. Papyrus couldn't help but see a few chips around the edges, though.

"…we could combine our souls and teleport aboard the ship using our newfound powers." she suggested.

"Well, why didn't we do that in the first place?!" Papyrus gasped, immediately seeing that it would work.

"When I first came, I convinced myself there was nothing I could do. I came so you would be with a friend, and I the same, in the universes' final moments. I never thought there could be a solution, but…even if you didn't realise it…you've brought me back to my senses, just by helping me forget…" Chara explained. "And now, I've realised that if this is the only option then…I must take it! No more living in the past, I tell myself. Put the guilt aside just for a moment. And…do what you've done before. And this time. It has to work."

"So…how do I absorb it?..." Papyrus asked, getting closer to the red point of light.

"Just touch it. It'll be a lot easier this time, for I've got no physical body for my soul to hide within…Last time I actually had to poison myself to coax it out."

"…And what will happen?..."

"Your current body will be augmented. You'll gain a great deal of power and me by your side as a construct of your mind."

"…Oh my god. C-can I…" Papyrus gasped, flattered by the opportunity.

"Yes. Of course. Do it now, before I change my mind." Chara laughed.

Papyrus reached out, and prepared to touch the soul. Just as the edge of his glove was about to touch the soul, he felt something else emerging; his soul, he realised, looking down at an upside-down white heart.

As soon as he made contact, the last thing he saw was his soul rushing inside Chara's, housed within it. A tingling ran through Papyrus' veins as he began to hover in the air. Neither of them could see anything but white, but they could definitely feel: if Determination was a liquid then Papyrus was drinking it, it was running through his veins in place of his blood, caressing him, becoming his entire being. Chara watched as something burned in the brightness, something orange like the fires of a regeneration.

Then, it went out, and all that could be heard was the clatter of metal on the floor. Papyrus took a long while to stir, and when he did, he was unable to get up either. However, taking in his surroundings, he could definitely tell one thing; he had a very long cape.

Propping himself up on a table, Papyrus took his first good look at his new form.

His battle body had become solid metal, and his paudrons had turned into wing-like structures, fit for a king. His cape trailed behind him, attached to the paudrons the whole way along, and it was as red as blood, the same red of Chara's soul. His gloves had morphed from mittens into the scarlet gloves of a warrior, the fabric going much further up his forearm. The boots were the same scarlet shade as well, much more military, and now were fastened with buckles. His fedora now posessed a long, scarlet feather, and a small white downy one by its side. He'd grown a little bit, and now posessed two ashen streaks beside his eyes.

"Oh HELL yes!" he cried. "Chara, have a look at this! I look so brilliant!"

Chara materialized beside him, now in full colour, but looking more…ghost-like. "How unoriginal. You've based yourself off of all your role models." she commented.

"…Really?...Well, that just makes it even more awesome! How did I even get this? It's amazing!" Papyrus gushed, checking out the hard metal of his armor.

"I think it's a symbolic representation of both of us. The armor represents us both hiding something, in your case your own kindness, and for me…well, you know. The cape, the symbol of flamboyance…the military get-up…our view of ourselves as soldiers, though not really traditional ones. Oh, the feathers! The red one definitely represents our now shared Determination, and the little white one represents…"

Chara was at a loss for words. The white feather?...oh…oh no. The white feather represented…Cowardice.

"It represents…enthusiasm?..." Chara continued. "Anyway. Careful now. Getting used to a new body is-"

Papyrus crashed straight to the floor, making an enormous cacophony. Chara looked very slightly amused.

"…difficult."

Papyrus managed to find his feet at last, and soon he was running full speed towards the door, leaving a simple written note on the kitchen counter, before out the door and into the valley. "If we're going to save the universe, I want to do it somewhere epic!" he declared, as Chara hovered beside him, as if pulled by an invisible rope. "Also, how do we get on board the Dalek spaceship anyway?"

"By way of a tesseract!" Chara replied. "Or what your brother prefers to call…a 'shortcut'."

"WHAT!?" Papyrus gasped. "That's how he gets to Grillby and back in five seconds flat?!"

"Yep." Chara replied. "And you call your brother dumb."

"No, I don't! I only do that jokingly!"

"Fine, fine!...Who am I to know, anyway…" Chara sighed.

Papyrus couldn't feel any sort of stamina running out, and it felt like he could run forever. But, on a lone hillside, across the river and above a field of rocks, they finally stopped.

"Look behind you." Chara told Papyrus, looking at the trail of red afterimages Papyrus left behind. He gasped in amazement upon seeing them. "THAT! IS! AWESOME! Honestly, I should do this soul-absorbing thing more often!"

"Can't exactly stay like this forever." Chara replied. "Unfathomable power tends to go to one's head eventually."

"Speaking of unfathomable power, how do I…harness it, per se?"

"Just like any regular attacks."

"Alright then!" Papyrus concluded, summoning a regular bone attack like he had done a thousand times, but instead launching a beautiful red fireball from his hand. No, not a fireball. A comet, streaking through the air, and when it hit the hillside, the grass burst into flames. Summoning one in his hand, he found a long, beautifully crafted cutlass materializing there instead. It left a trail in the air as Papyrus swung it left and right, and as he let go of it it crumbled into sparks.

"Oh my god! So, with all this power, we can get past those Daleks and rescue the Doctor! How long do we have left?!" Papyrus asked Chara.

"Nine hours. Relative time. We should get going, but first…I need you to make a promise." Chara replied, moving closer to Papyrus. "Last time I tried this, Asriel gave mercy to the humans and paid with his life. You have to promise me you'll go all out on those Daleks, alright? I…don't want you to die the way Asriel did."

Papyrus was silent.

"If it's any consolation, they're unable to feel anything but hate. They're basically genetically engineered killing machines." Chara stated, hoping to sway the decision.

"Alright. I promise." Papyrus replied, looking adamant as ever. "Normally, I wouldn't do this, but…this is different. Quite a lot different. You know, universe and one of my best buddies at stake."

"You don't have to seek them out, in fact, I'd rather recommend you didn't. You're not invincible; one shot from a Dalek and you're dead like any other monster. But if one of them attacks you, don't hesitate to destroy it."

"Got it." Papyrus answered, looking towards the sky.

"Ready?" Chara asked Papyrus. "I'll take care of the tesseract."

"Ready as anything!" Papyrus replied, straightening his fedora.

A millisecond passed and they were nowhere, then, straight after that second of nowhere, they were on the spaceship.

"All Dalek fleets report to dimensional portals. The invasion begins in 10 rels." the Fallen God declared. "Watch, Doctor. You think you've saved so, so many people in your lifetime, haven't you?..."

That's why, the Doctor thought. It all made painful sense now. Earth was to be invaded by Daleks, every single Earth in every single timeline, and…and…it wasn't fair!...

"Target the skeleton with the red cape and large fedora previously belonging to the 4th Doctor. Name: Papyrus Aster. Make him your first priority. Shoot him on sight!" the human ordered the fleet headed for the Underverses' Earth.

"No such being detected on Earth." a strategist Dalek reported, after checking the identity of every sentient creature on Earth.

"…what?...What?...WHAT?"

"I've got the plan of the entire Dalek ship right here." Chara reported, with a digital blueprint of the ship in front of her. "Two lefts, one right, across the main Dalek hub and from there one left and two rights. Then we'll be in the central control room. There I'll use a program to get into the Dalek software and shut down all barrier technology, teleport every single Dalek with such mechanisms to these co-ordinates. Sadly that won't take out the strategists, but c'est la vie. Then we go save the Doctor."

"Except…I don't really know how to program." Papyrus objected, frequently checking the door of the room in which they'd locked themselves. "And I'm the only one with a corporeal body."

"Well, since when you the one in control?" Chara asked, taking Papyrus by surprise as she started operating the body. "The control's shared over the body, unless the monster resists. Don't worry, it's not possession, per se." Papyrus could only watch as several hundred lines of code appeared on the screen incredibly quickly.

"Also, why can't we just put in the code while we're in the control room?..." Papyrus asked, as control was restored to him and the code was placed on an advanced USB stick from a drawer.

"In case something happens to either of us. Always got to have a backup plan, you know!" Chara responded. "Right. Papyrus. Get behind the door. There may be Daleks waiting outside."

"Wait!-" Papyrus exclaimed, as he felt a vibration in his pocket.

"A phone call?...Not now, damnit! There could be Daleks gathering outside right now, too much longer and-"

"It's from Sans." Papyrus protested, checking the number.

"…I…alright." Chara replied.

Papyrus picked up.

"papyrus. i don't know if you can hear this, or if you're even alive to hear this, but i just want to warn you. don't come back to earth. there's these things everywhere and they're deadly. there's a huge cloud of them coming towards our town. i assume the doc came to pick you up, but…don't tell him to bring you back to earth." the voice on the other end informed him.

Sans looked worriedly over the horizon. All across the world, the news headlines said, people were dying, already Ireland's local population, where these…things had emerged, was completely decimated. They spared no-one. And they were heading for Sans' place. He'd woken up that morning to find Papyrus and the First Human gone. A note, left on the kitchen counter betrayed everything.

Brother! I'm going to go save the universe, be back in time for tea. Word, for word, that was exactly what it read, nothing more.

Thank god the Doctor came in time. He didn't want them destroying his brother, no matter what the cost.

And the worst thing was…

A small branch was breaking off to head directly towards the house.

"Brother! It's me! I'm alive! There's no need to worry!...Just…hide, or something. Don't try to fight them. Not unless you've absorbed a human soul like me! I…I'll be back! I promise."

"…thanks. love you bro."

The voice on the other end hung up, presumably hurrying to prepare for the disaster in time.

"Oh no." Chara gasped. "That's why the ship's not swarming with them…there's an invasion in progress. Every Earth in every paralell universe is being swarmed by Daleks…"

"Well, let's proceed post haste then!" Papyrus exclaimed, ducking to the side of the door. Slowly he opened it, poised for his action.

A whirring sound echoed through the room for a mere second. Immediately and reflexively, Papyrus shot a fire ball across the door, and heard the scream of a Dalek as its casing exploded. Peering at the wreckage, he recoiled as he saw what the Dalek really was; all that remained was a…burnt little octopus with one eye.

"That's…the Dalek?..." Papyrus whispered to Chara.

"Yes. They weren't always like this. They used to be humanoid, but…well, let's say war ruined everything as usual." Chara explained, leading Papyrus down the Dalek ship corridor.

"Ew." Papyrus whispered. "Now, keep quiet. I'm trying to go for a stealth thing."

"No-one can hear me but you, and no-one can hear you talking to me." Chara concluded.

"Fantast-" Papyrus exclaimed to Chara without fear of being heard, but was rudely interrupted by an announcement.

"Intruder on the Dalek Ship, I repeat, Intruder on the Dalek Ship! Shoot on sight and destroy!" the announcement blared, with the voice of the Fallen God ringing in its tone. Instantly, Papyrus and Chara both heard another whirring sound behind them. Three Daleks were patrolling the corridor, and they had with no doubt spotted them. Papyrus took a quick glance behind him, face filled with fear for just a single second.

Then it left, replacing with confidence.

"Run!" he told Chara, as he grabbed her incorporeal hand. Ducking and dodging the Dalek shots that whizzed over their heads, Papyrus ran headlong down the corridor, leaving a red trail behind him- the Daleks didn't quite know what to shoot, and soon he was moving in zigzags so narrow that the afterimages became almost like a red mist. Leaping at the wall in front, he propelled himself off and continued rushing down the left corridor.

"Nice!" Chara yelled over the rushing of air. Glancing at the security cameras positioned nigh everywhere, she wondered if the Doctor could see them, cheering, knowing that Papyrus was alive and well and fighting back…oh, you watch, Doctor! You watch us run!

Chara was keeping a careful watch on her surroundings, on that topic. "Daleks around the corner! We need a surprise attack!"

"On it!" Papyrus replied, sending a line of fireballs around the corridor, resulting in a large fireball exploding outwards, the heatwave ruffling his cape, or rather, ruffling it more. The feeling of just…running. Running forever. It felt amazing to Papyrus, being filled with so much determination and drive. He didn't quite know what compelled him so much before to destroy his enemy with…ruthlessness he'd never seen before…Was this what Chara felt every day of her life, what every human felt?...Leaping over the wreckage of the three Daleks, Papyrus remembered what Chara told him, one more right and one more left.

"They're catching up to us! I think you may be able to do a short-range teleport!" Chara advised him, checking behind her, and suddenly felt compelled to pull a face at the Daleks behind them; they were still shooting, and Papyrus was still ducking and dodging them and still having time to contemplate the nature of Determination- it amazed her, how competent they were. Suddenly they were snapping forward and forward and forward again, like a film with only every tenth frame being shown; they were losing the Daleks far behind them.

Left around the next corridor. No Daleks here yet. All the ones here must be petty security guards, Chara thought, that's why they haven't guarded themselves yet, it must take a while. They'd have to be quick before they put their defenses up.

"FASTER!" she yelled. Papyrus snapped forwards in space as though it was nothing. Suddenly, he skidded to a halt as he saw that he was about to run directly into a Dalek.

"EXTERMINATE!" the Dalek cried, sending out a shot. Papyrus snapped left, right, left again, then, before he even fully knew what he was doing, a giant bone structure, glowing with determination and with the imposing and warped face that looked halfway between a dog and a dragon, appeared directly behind him. The front snapped in two, sending a beam of red light searing into the Dalek's casing.

"That. Was…Awesome!" Papyrus gasped, turning to behold the structure he'd made, but it faded out of sight.

Chara wondered for a moment why he suddenly considered something as far from his morals as killing acceptable all of a sudden. Then, she realised.

Even if Papyrus hadn't noticed yet, it wasn't just their souls that merged. It was their desires too, slightly mixing with one another. The desire to see those creatures dead across the universe had leaked into Papyrus. And…

That enthusiasm he posessed…had leaked into her, just a tiny bit.

She wouldn't even be questioning why he hated the Daleks now otherwise.

They didn't have much time. Eight hours until the Doctor was due to be exterminated, possibly sooner, and thousands of people dead across the Earths already. There was no time for philosophy.

It wasn't very long at all until Papyrus came to a gigantic cavern inside the ship, on a platform teetering out onto the abyss. A Dalek Hub. Papyrus stopped in his tracks, the thought that this might be a teeny bit too many enemies to deal with in one go rose to his mind.

"So what are we supposed to do now?..." he asked. "Fly?"

"Exactly." Chara replied.

"HOW?" Papyrus asked, glancing around him for potential attackers.

"Levitation!...JUST JUMP!" Chara replied. Papyrus took a step off the platform, and found that his foot wouldn't fall down, and beginning to run, he found that he was hovering in the air. Hundreds of Daleks took notice, and deviated from their line-by-line routes to attack, but by now Papyrus was zipping through the air like a bird, doing loop-de-loops and a hundred other unnessecary things. Flying through the beams that were shot by the hundred, he was like a pilot in a WWI dogfight high above the trenches, except not shooting anyone, at least not for now.

Landing on another platform directly opposite to the one he had jumped off of, Papyrus broke into a run again. Not much further to go now, and his Doctor would be safe, the world would be safe, the universe would be in safe hands once again. A Dalek found itself in a millisecond with its plunger, gunstick and eyestalk chopped off by a large red cutlass. It didn't even pause before self-destructing as a not-really-last resort. Explosions rang out across the corridor as several more Daleks met the exact same fate. They became more and more common as Papyrus made his way to the central control room, and he would get into swordfights with them, always ending up the same way: a sure victory for the Great Papyrus. Chara could hardly believe what she was seeing; was this what would have happened if Asriel had just obeyed her?...The victory was too sweet to believe. Really, far too brilliant.

And as though they had only turned a corner since they first exited the room they entered, there was the central control room. Nothing barred the way. Papyrus leapt inside. "This is it, Chara!" he exclaimed. "We've done it! We've saved the universe, to-"

Every door to the control room slammed shut.

"Did you do that?" Papyrus asked Chara.

"N-no." Chara replied, gazing about her.

Papyrus heard a faint whirring sound, just behind the control panel that stared him right in the face.

Daleks.

They were surrounded.

"Never mind them!-" Papyrus exclaimed, and threw a glowing fireball at them.

No effect. It just vaporized, a few centimetres away.

He tried the sword.

It shattered into tiny pieces that dissolved into dust when they hit the ground.

Nothing was working. Nothing would get through the Dalek's shields, absolutely nothing he tried. The Daleks blocked his way, and when he tried a teleport it just snapped him straight back to the exact same spot.

There was silence in the control room, as the Daleks stared them both down.

"Chara…w-why aren't they…attacking?..." he asked Chara nervously.

"She wants to see how we'll react." Chara answered. "The human. She just wants to see how we'll react to being in this situation. Then once she's satisfied she'll kill us."

"There's got to be some way out of this!" Papyrus replied, trying to fireball the door, to no effect.

"I'll check." Chara stated, doing an analysis on the shields. "Immune to every attack we can throw at them except…a Final Power beam."

"What does that do?..." Papyrus asked.

"It uses the full power of the Soul. Every single ounce of infinite power is used." Chara explained, head bowed, waiting for him to accept.

"But that'll sacrifice the human soul!" Papyrus asked, knowing the outcome for some reason he didn't fully understand.

"It…it will. Do it. Do it now, or we're both going to die."

Papyrus took a long pause, and looked straight into the eyes of the three Daleks.

"No." he replied. Resolute, he looked into the eyes of Chara with kindness. Chara could see it again, she could see it happening again. "There's got to be another way. Maybe if…maybe if we just wait long enough, she'll get bored and order the D-Daleks to retreat!"

"That won't happen." Chara assured him, as a warning shot fired into the wall, barely missing Papyrus.

"That doesn't matter, alright! I refuse, no matter what!" Papyrus exclaimed, resisting the force that had a faint grip on his arm.

"If you refuse, we'll both die here, and the universe with us!"

"I just don't want to destroy you to let me live!" Papyrus stammered.

"Don't think about me now! Just think about all those people down there, dying to those damn things! Just one flick of the wrist and you can save them!...Your brother, the Doctor…everyone! If one person has to die to rescue to universe from destruction then SO BE IT!"

"I...I can't do it, Chara…I just can't…"

"Do you not care about them?" Chara snapped, getting incredibly desperate now. She could hear the stars going out around her, the universes' time running out.

"I DO CARE ABOUT THEM!" Papyrus cried in reply, almost outraged but not being able to bring himself to be, "I care about them, Chara, but…it's that…Chara?..."

Chara looked at Papyrus, hoping desperately that it would be his last goodbyes to her, and judging by the tears in his eyes, it looked like she may be right.

"…I…care about you, Chara!...I…wouldn't go and just…do that!..." Papyrus explained. He was very much surprised by Chara's reaction, complete and utter surprise and almost anguish, almost like what he had said was a death sentence, and not nessecarily hers.

"If you care about me, then…you would do this!...If I'm going to die then I just want to know that I've done some good in this world rather than dying and bringing everyone crashing down to hell with me like I always have done!..."

"Chara, you don't under…stand…it's not your time yet!...You've got…so much ahead of you!..."

"It's either I die or we both die!..." Chara protested, head lowered and her face hidden, "Papyrus…please…I…don't want to die knowing I haven't done anything good in this world…and that…I led another innocent monster to their unjustified death…"

Chara raised her head and Papyrus saw in an instant that she wasn't scared to die by his hands, but scared for Papyrus' life instead of her own, so terrified that she cried tears of pain and sorrow.

"I'll meet death without a murmur for the good of the universe. And just know in advance that…I forgive you." she continued, voice wavering as she sensed their time running out.

"C…Chara?...I…I'm so sorry…" Papyrus half-wept as he realised what conclusion his mind was coming to. He was…he was…going to do it…wasn't he?...He didn't know who was making the decision…please don't let it be me that's doing this…he thought. He'd stop the beam early, he thought, Chara could just hang in there until the Doctor came to heal her, maybe get her back to the TARDIS…

The Daleks were growing impatient, and so was the Fallen God. They raised their guns and prepared to destroy the pair once and for all.

The Doctor was being forced to watch as the Fallen God played the security camera footage on a large holographic screen. He was hyperventilating, an expression of disbelief on his face. No. Not again. Not like all the other times.

"This is all your fault, Doctor." the Fallen God pointed out solemnly.

Papyrus was beginning to raise his arm. He was letting go of his ability to resist and he hoped that it wasn't just him doing the action. His hand outstretched weakly, appearing to the Daleks as a silent and futile request to stop, made the Fallen God, several rooms away, chuckle with amusement.

There was a flash of red light.

The Doctor looked up to see a flash of red light for one frame, and then, nothing. Had…had he…what had…just happened. Teeth clenched in anger he realised that one of the Daleks must have self-destructed, killing the Daleks and Papyrus as well.

"See, Doctor? This is what ALWAYS happens in the end, isn't it?...They get too close to you and they burn."

Papyrus finally opened his eyes. He was among the Dalek wreckage, the control panel was still intact, to his surprise, and…Chara was right there beside him.

"CHARA! Chara! I stopped the beam a little bit early…" Papyrus gushed, turning to her. "I…I expected you to d-die immediately, but…you've survived!...Maybe there's some way I can save you!...Like…the TARDIS! Or…a SAVE point!-"

Chara was utterly silent; she was kneeling on the ground, trembling slightly. Slowly, she raised her head; the tear streaks were gone but…she looked broken. Not in the spiritual sense, though. Physically…broken. Like…if she were touched, she would shatter into tiny fragments.

"…Chara?" Papyrus asked her nervously. "A-are you alright?"

Chara nodded. "That was…unexpected…I thought it would all be over in one moment…Ah, well. I suppose this…long, drawn-out goodbye…will have to do…"

Papyrus' face fell almost immediately.

"I'm sorry…My time's running out. I know you…made a reasonable effort in trying to save me, but…I'm afraid it's over now."

"Wait, but…last time you…you were able to survive…right?...As a ghost, but…you still survived!...Can you do that this time?" Papyrus noted, becoming hopeful again.

"No. That only works if my SOUL is intact. Last time…the monster soul sustained the most damage and only that died, I just went into a comatose state without a physical body…My soul is…done for this time. It's dissolving. Dissolving into dust." Chara explained, holding out their combined soul. Her part, the red soul, appeared almost like a cloud of swallows, formed into the shape of a heart. It pulsated and solidified, weakened, and dissolved in a cycle, every time a small particle escaping and disappearing.

"I…" Papyrus gasped, realising that she had still sealed Chara to her fate, and letting himself fully drop to the floor. "Oh…oh no…Chara, I…I don't know what to say…"

"You don't need to apologize again. It's alright. I wasn't just telling you I forgave you as consolation…I really did want this."

Chara gave a deep sigh. She could…feel it. She was fading. Her memories, all the painful ones that were tinged with white dust…were dissolving.

"Out of all the outcomes…of all the things that could have stemmed from my decision to fuse our souls…this is…the one that's best. In a strange way." she commented.

Papyrus was still completely silent.

"You told me once…didn't you?...That…the long battle was finally going to end for me at last…and it is. I think…it's time to change. Just for a moment…The battle's gone on for too long, and…there would have been no…benefit from my continued existence. Do you see now…how this is the best thing that could have happened?..."

Chara suddenly felt herself in the embrace of a very strong hug, the sort of one that didn't stem from happiness. Immediately she saw; he was trying to cling on to her, trying to piece her back together. "P-please don't say that…" Papyrus told her.

"Ha…ha…on the other hand…maybe I'm wrong. I…don't know." Chara replied. "Then again…it's not like I have much choice in the matter now, do I?..." Her voice was almost like a whisper at this point, and she was becoming more and more of a simple echo on the wind.

Papyrus simply wouldn't let go of Chara for a while after that. He let the tears come now for he had no reason to told them back: and Chara felt them somehow.

"…a tear, Papyrus?..." she muttered. "…That's not really like you…to cry…"

"I just…don't want you to go…not yet." Papyrus stuttered in reply. "You know, it's that…I get emotional sometimes."

"…D-don't be." Chara explained. "You've been braver this night that you probably ever were in your entire life. It…wasn't me that cast the beam. It was all you. Also…oughn't you insert the program?...finish the job?..." She motioned over to the slot in the control panel, a fair way away. Every movement was an obvious effort now.

"I won't let go. Not while there's still time." Papyrus told her, wrapping his cape around her body, hoping to stop the shards floating away. But…it didn't work. They phased straight through the cape and continued drifting to oblivion.

"Y-you're alright…aren't…you?...I hope this…doesn't hurt at all." Papyrus asked her. Finally, Chara thought, he gets it.

"It's…not hurting me…not…hurting me…" Chara whispered in reply. "Thank god…you've accepted it…haven't you?..." she muttered under her breath.

"No!...I won't ever accept it…that would be just…inconsiderate, if you get my meaning…" Papyrus informed her, resolute in voice at first glance but quickly wavering.

Chara noticed a large crack appearing, right across her torso. She smiled, albeit weakly. Time for her to go, she thought, a pity she had to leave someone heartbroken in the process…and…somehow her smile faded, just a little until it was just a memory of one.

"I…I'm not ready for you to leave…" Papyrus stammered. "I'm not…ready for this to end… just yet…"

"It's…not like you'll be…alone. You've got the Doctor…and…your brother…all much better friends than…I ever could be…" Chara explained. "But…still. I…I'm sorry to have to leave like this."

Papyrus hid his face from her immediately. Chara could see a very, very faint smile; she was confused at first; did he finally get why she was so eager to leave this mortal coil or was he…just…pretending again?...trying to relieve her of the minute twinge of guilt she still had left?...

"Goodbye, now…brave heart…and…" she whispered, the shards breaking away faster than ever and turning to red sparks which dissipated. She looked up at his face, and…her vision seemed to fade and refocus until she saw something…completely different but completely identical all at the same time…

Flowers.

They covered her vision by the edge, but she could see someone holding their hand out to her. …she couldn't tell how long ago anymore it had appeared as a bright red glove, but now it had changed. A…furry little paw, outstretched to her.

As…Asriel?...she thought, before barely, just barely realising it was all just…a trick of her m…em…ory.

"…Thankyou…" Chara whispered with her final breath. All she could feel now was just…an embrace from somewhere. She didn't know where from, perhaps it was from herself, she didn't even know…what…it was…but still, she smiled and she sensed that whoever saw it just then recognized as true, the first true smile she had posessed in a thousand years…

And she shattered, and turned to dust.

Papyrus' smile immediately failed him, and his eyes filled up to bursting with tears. He raised his cape over his face and cried into it with grief and guilt. He'd never felt so broken in his life before. "C…hara?..." he stammered, hoping to find one last response, a chance to say his goodbyes, to tell her she'd not be forgotten, never ever ever…

He didn't know how long he just sat there, wracked with unhappiness he'd never really known before.

All his life, he told himself he could never truly fail.

And now he had been proven wrong.

Every single Dalek in the skies of all the London in every world, suddenly disappeared in a flash of blue light. The population that was left over suddenly came out to watch. Some cheered, even though they had no idea who they were cheering for.

The Doctor just sat there, wracked with anger and rage. WHY?...he thought, why, every single time when it looked like the ones he knew weren't going to turn to dust like the rest?!

Suddenly, the barriers surrounding him just…disappeared. The…the Fallen God wasn't responsible, judging by the look on her face.

But the Doctor took the chance anyway.

Arms trembling, Papyrus inserted the USB into the slot. The control panel, sparking with light and sparks, flashed several images onto the screen at once. Access Denied, Access Granted, Shields Lowered, Emergency Dalek Teleport System Activating. It had…worked, Papyrus thought. He'd…saved…everyone. Halted the plans.

But at such a cost, he thought, looking into a reflective blacked-out screen. It seemed so silly when he thought about it. The Fallen God was going to destroy the universe as the Daleks were going to destroy the Earth, the whole of reality would have been destroyed. And in exchange to stop it, he'd sacrificed just one life, in lieu of hundreds and billions of…innocent lives. But…it hurt. Knowing that…she was…gone…so much chance, so much potential, and he'd killed it off.

He felt something that he'd never recognized within himself.

Hatred. Not for others. But himself. It tore at him like a knife and he wished that he wasn't…himself anymore.

It almost seemed that the wish came true. The metal of his new battle body began fading back to its original form like lichen growing on a rock.

His vision faded, and, exhausted and alone, terrified but worn out, he slowly fell to the ground, and knowing that his duty was done, he slipped into unconsciousness, his power fading and his newfound and newlost determination leaving him.

Among the thousands of datalogs that the Daleks kept in their Pathweb, the Doctor finally found Chara's memories. Every single experience that Chara posessed was within that data file.

He uploaded the file onto his Cyberman infostamp.

He could hear the remenants of an argument between some Daleks and the human. The Human told them she at least wanted to show him the footage of Papyrus' death before destroying him, the Daleks insisting adamantly he was to be exterminated now.

The Doctor had no qualms about what he was to do next. He ran from the Dalek Pathweb connection facility, walking straight towards the gallows as the Fallen God thought.

He strode towards the human, who levitated just off the ground, smiling. "Finally." she said, bluntly. "You've arrived, Doctor. Daleks, let him speak. I want some beautifully touching last words from this one."

The Doctor grabbed the Fallen God, almost by the throat, and, snarling through his teeth all this time, ruthlessly brought her to the ground. He pinned the infostamp to her head and put his finger firmly on the 'Download' button.

"One press of the trigger and every single one of these memories goes into your brain." the Doctor told her, firmly.

"Whose memories are they?" the Fallen God asked the Doctor, still smiling.

"Chara's. I've seen the contents of those memories and they're terrible enough to cause anyone other than her to go insane." the Doctor explained, still unwavering.

"Correction: anyone possessing those memories would go insane." the Fallen God retorted. "But more importantly…what can I do to stop you pulling the trigger."

"Nothing." the Doctor replied. The Fallen God briefly adopted a face of mock fear, before shooting upwards off of the ground, and forcing the Doctor's arm downwards in a second.

"You think you can defeat me…with my EMOTIONS?..." the Fallen God cackled, finding the whole exchange a complete joke. "Well, I'm sorry my naïve little child, I don't even respond to my emotions anymore!...They don't even matter! Did Sans teach you what LOVE meant? L, O, V, E love, not your worthless, weakening love you value so highly for no good reason! In fact, Doctor…I'd rather not have to deal with them at all. It's just a stupid weakness that people insist they can get at me with. Toriel, Asgore, even Sans tried it. And of course, we can't forget the most famous case of all- your little PET, Papyrus! … Not much of an Oncoming Storm, are you!...If you have to resort to this! So, in short, Doctor, I'd rather not have to deal with such useless things."

"Very well, then." the Doctor concluded.

There was a long silence. The strategist Daleks looked at each other, communicating silently.

"She is ready." one of them declared at last.

"-what?" the Fallen God asked them. "Sorry, servant. Didn't catch that."

"She. Is. Ready." the same Dalek repeated again.

"Ready for what?" the Fallen God questioned.

"She is ready for the Dalek conversion."

"I'm sorry?" the Fallen God noted, incredibly put out.

"She will be an easy conversion into Daaalek kind! Earlier tests have given mostly faulty results due to residual emotion. She will serve the Dalek empire well. The Daaleks have never known a source of power such as this one, and all we must do is haaarness it!" the Dalek explained to its lessers, the Fallen God included.

"Oh no. I'm afraid not. I won't regress to being one of your…disgusting species! I am emotionless by CHOICE, thankyou very much!" she protested, backing away.

"You are not the one in control." the Dalek responded, ordering two Daleks to latch onto her arms with their plungers.

"Let go of me!" the human screamed. "LET GO OF ME!"

"Take her for Daaalek conversion!" the Dalek commanded the two Daleks. The Fallen God, trying to struggle free, managed to buy herself time, but not enough. Slowly they managed to drag her away.

The Doctor didn't care.

"Y-YOU KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN!" she screeched in terror. "YOU KNEW THEY'D DO THIS TO ME, DOCTOR!...DOCTOR, I HATE YOU! I BLOODY…HATE…"

The Fallen God realised her fate was coming as she heard the machines whirring behind her.

"…please…help me…" she gasped, her face frozen in fear.

Before now, the Doctor contemplated that those two words were ones she'd never refuse.

But no more.

He ran from the chamber, locking the door behind him, setting the seals to maximum. Guilt twinged his heart. Was she…just…a child, after all?...Or just another maniac?...

The Doctor heard a quiet celebratory chiptune. Suddenly, he saw something appear in front of him, which made him back down with a start.

It read: Your LV has increased.

The Doctor continued, realising it was just one more statistic. If he didn't accept at as who he was, he'd be alright…wouldn't he?...Now all he had to do, taking his mind off the matter, was to teleport all those Daleks…somewhere. Into the depths of space. Somewhere that'd freeze them in time without escape, but…not…kill them.

The control room was locked. He didn't really want to go in, immediately knowing he'd see white dust everywhere. The sonic screwdriver opened the door with a click, and the entrance hissed into view.

What the Doctor saw amazed him.

Several dead Daleks, still smoking. Casings completely vaporized by some kind of force he'd never known. The mutants inside weren't even recognizeable.

A scorched floor, with a small damp patch. But, as he saw, no dust.

Because, slumped by a wall, was the body of Papyrus.

The Doctor's first and natural assumption was that Papyrus was dead, killed by the explosion, but, with a start, he remembered that monsters turned to dust when they died. He wasn't dead. Not even badly hurt.

"Papyrus…you alright?..." the Doctor asked him, a hand on his shoulder, attempting to stir him.

Papyrus slowly woke up, eyes flickering open and head raising. As soon as he saw the Doctor, his face lit up, and by that…it meant it just restored to its usual brightness…The Doctor could see the tear marks beside his eyes. Helping him up, it seemed to him that Papyrus had so much to say…he couldn't say anything.

"Oh…oh my god, it…it actually worked! The…the Dalek teleport, I…I stopped the invasion! Doctor, you're safe!" Papyrus cried at last, clinging onto the Doctor as he felt his legs begin to fail again. Now…now he noticed that he had his old body back, he…felt a pang of regret…and began to remember the events that had come to pass.

Still, he didn't let it show. At least not on the surface.

The Doctor led Papyrus out of the ruined control room, and soon they broke into a brisk run. "How on Earth did you get on board the Dalek spaceship anyway?!" the Doctor asked him, amazed at such a feat.

"I…I'll explain later…so much to tell you, so little time…" Papyrus replied, much more nervously than seconds before.

"Yeah. When we get back in the TARDIS, which, if I'm correct, is just two lefts and a right away!" the Doctor explained, running faster and faster, the taste of victory in his mouth tingling…

It was only one more right until they found their first hindrance.

"DALEK!" Papyrus gasped, noticing the bright red Dalek advancing towards them.

"I noticed." the Doctor replied, walking towards it.

"Doc…tor…" the Dalek groaned. "Look…at…what you've…done…to me…It…hurts. It hurts so much."

The Doctor was completely silent.

"I will…ex…ter…min…ate…you, Doc…tor…"

The Dalek slowly and painfull raised its gunstick. The order to come to the power source chamber was filling its mind and resisting inflicted the most searing pain it had ever felt. All it wanted was to just get its sweet revenge and die. On the Doctor. On the Daleks!...Its gunstick was disabled. They were trying to give it no choice but to obey. Come here, now, the order told her. NOW.

But the Dalek refused.

"N...o…" it screeched quietly, before its spheres began levitating around it, in a feeble attempt to capture the Doctor inside its personal forcefield. But all it took was one step and the Doctor was out of danger completely.

One last scream and the Dalek was dead.

"Who was that?..." Papyrus asked. "That wasn't a normal Dalek, it had personality, it had…emotions."

"The Fallen God." the Doctor explained. "They converted her. They converted her into a Dalek."

"Poor human…" Papyrus concluded, before walking away. The TARDIS wasn't far away now, and soon they were inside it, making their escape without opposition. The Daleks inside the ship, left without a power source, drifted away into space, to freeze.

"TARDIS interface, code 219dbxcgnjzxejyst7i7to73c. Break lock on travel and interface mechanism." the Doctor ordered the TARDIS, and soon, the familiar sound of the dematerilization taking place echoed in both their eyes.

"Open TARDIS interface." the Doctor commanded. "Chara, we def-"

For once, the Doctor wasn't pleased to see Rose standing there. "Chara not found." she reported, blank of face. The Doctor was suddenly shocked. Chara not found?...Had she…left? Was her duty fufilled…and she had left for a better place like a ghost did?...

"What happened to her?" the Doctor asked.

"Chara has left the TARDIS. Chara's SOUL has been deleted." the TARDIS explained.

"HOW?!" the Doctor yelled, enraged. "WHAT HAVE THE DALEKS DONE TO HER!? WHAT HAVE THEY DONE!?"

"The Daleks did not do anything to Char-" the TARDIS interface explained, before being shut off just before it finished its sentence.

"Allow me to explain." Papyrus told the Doctor, face half-hidden. "I'm sorry, Doctor…I…s-sacrificed…Chara." The Doctor raised his eyebrows, amazed he'd do something like that.

Papyrus explained the entire turn of events, becoming more and more distraught with every sentence spoken, even more sure that the Doctor would never forgive him. Eventually he could do nothing but start sobbing into his mittens. The Doctor gave him a look of sympathy.

"…You know what I'm going to say." he muttered under his breath.

"I forgive you." the Doctor concluded.

"W-what?..." Papyrus stammered. "You…actually…forgive me for that?..."

"Yeah. I can relate, myself." the Doctor replied. So many people came to his head at once. Donna. His own daughter. Even Rose to some extent.

So many deaths for him, and him alone.

His children of time, their graves laid beside each other, all with so many stories, but all with the same ending; an empty TARDIS.

He almost blamed himself for dragging Papyrus into this mess.

The TARDIS landed just outside Papyrus and Sans' house, and the rain was pouring down around where the house was, or what was left of it. It was completely demolished, the fair countryside beside it scorched, and the town surrounding it razed. Papyrus cautiously stepped towards the house, breath still shaky, and expecting the worst.

Nothing.

"Hang on, hang on!" the Doctor gasped, detecting something hidden with the sonic screwdriver. "There's something hidden nearby!..." The scorched earth that was left in the place of the house began to shimmer and a metal plate appeared.

"Some kind of roof. Something the Daleks didn't notice." the Doctor commented, as Papyrus shot a bone straight through the metal plating. Immediately, he saw an interesting side room, containing a machine covered by a sheet and blueprints. But, most importantly…Sans was cowering in the corner of the room.

"S-Sans?...It's me! Your brother! You can come out now!" Papyrus told him, sliding down into the chamber. Sans turned and saw his face, which immediately told him he'd seen quite the battle.

The Doctor waited quite a while by the TARDIS, waiting for the reunion to be done, which, as he'd expected, took quite a while.

Papyrus had agreed with the Doctor that…maybe he'd take a short break from travelling for a while. He didn't say why but…both of them knew it didn't need saying. "Don't worry!" he assured him. "I'm not giving up. The Great Papyrus shall always stay determined!..."

He left the control room to get some of his most vital things, head bowed as though he had something very serious to take care of. A proper funeral for Chara?...the Doctor mused. She deserved one, at least.

When he left, however, he possessed a large feather in his hat. He didn't actually say anything about it, though.

"Well…I suppose, Doctor, that we shall part ways for…no, wait…no! Actually, I hope we won't be parted for long. You can come back and visit us at any time…well…once we get a new house. Actually, Sans is…talking about going to Undyne's place until we get one…Why am I overcomplicating things so much?...Just call me!" Papyrus informed him.

"I'll be over for Christmas!" the Doctor agreed. "Then we'll hopefully start travelling again!"

Papyrus, giving him a reassuring wink to tell him he was alright, left the TARDIS.

In fact, he…wasn't actually alright.

The TARDIS dematerialized behind him, and he didn't watch it go, instead, he just walked down, past the wreckage into the valley where he and Chara used to run and contemplate and watch the stars during that week when the stars were going out…Tears leaked from his eyes when he thought about it again, mixing with the rain that got past the fedora. Honestly, he thought, why did he always have to be so damn sentimental?...Maybe it was just his nature. Definitely just his nature, he concluded. Be proud of it, he resolved.

He looked upwards, checking if the feather wasn't getting too wet. He definitely didn't want it to be ruined…it was a symbol of rememberance.

For Papyrus hadn't viewed Chara as a demon. Nor had he viewed her as an angel. No. Actually, to him, she was more like a pheonix…a pheonix that never stopped trying to keep going, burdened by ashes and dust but burning again and coming back.

Only this time…she'd burned.

And not…come back…

He knew it wasn't exactly fitting. But…still. At least she wasn't going to be forgotten. Not in word or spirit either.

Brave heart, he thought, remembering with twinges of sorrow her final words to him as she shattered.

Brave heart.


	15. WhoTale Bonus: Midnight

Why did I write this?...Because I love this concept. I really wanted to write this down on paper, or document, rather. And I'd like to share it with you guys. When I first watched Midnight, I was writing WhoTale and anticipating the writing of the grand finale. And in it, there was going to be a deleted scene in which Papyrus was to be briefly posessed by Chara (the control over the body would be shared, but Papyrus would be the dominant force and able to resist.) to control the TARDIS as he didn't know how. The scene might have gone something like this:

One second, Papyrus was standing in front of the TARDIS interface. Chara was explaining their plan and its many nuances and requirements.

Then, he felt a strange tightness around his body, almost like ties being tightened on his fingerbones and its joints, or vines being pulled around his limbs, painfully tightly. (Where did the whole vines thing come from, he asked himself?)

"Question is." he asked Chara, trying to hide his apprehension, "How are we going to operate the TARDIS? I don't know how."

"Well, since when were YOU the one in control?" Chara answered, cheekily.

And Papyrus felt suddenly that he was being operated. His limbs flew across the controls setting co-ordinates and variables. He turned to Chara, who seemed now like a skilled puppeteer in control of a puppet, and the puppet was him.

"Wait, what are you doing?!" he asked her, nervously now, for no good reason, he assured himself. She can be trusted. Can't she?

"We're both in control of this one body. And I'm the only one that knows how to use this machine. Simple as that. There. We're done. I hope that wasn't too…uncomfortable. Posession can be unpleasant when you don't fully trust the person in control." Chara explained, nonchalantly.

"…All good." Papyrus replied, noting what Chara implied he thought of her.

"…All good." Chara repeated in reply. She noted Papyrus' expression change from shaken to terrified for a brief moment.

"Don't do that!" Papyrus snapped at her, scared of Chara's sudden coldness.

The scene was cut from the final product due to a plothole this would have created, which I can't remember, but…this gave me an idea. What if Papyrus went to the planet Midnight instead of Donna Noble?...And it seems he wouldn't be the character to pass up either the chance to see some beautiful scenery nor the chance to save Sky Sylvestry from posession…

Papyrus suddenly felt a sense of Déjà vu, a sense that something could be done. That everyone else was doing something wrong, something very wrong, that he had a better solution. And it seemed…that he had the chance.

"She's only copying that skeleton!" the professor gasped. Alongside him came whispers of; 'I knew it, she's with him, and him only. We're together. That's what matters."

"…So you're listening, then." Papyrus concluded, turning directly to Sky Sylvestry instantly, and the claims grew louder. "Sky?...Can you hear me now?..."

"Look at the pair of them." someone hissed. Like always, Papyrus refuted the claim silently, but he felt the footsteps of the Doctor echo his as Papyrus walked towards Sky before kneeling in front of her.

"What are you doing?" the Doctor asked him.

"I'm trying to save her! I think I know how, I just know. You've just got to remind the posessed person of who they really are and then it's all alright!" Papyrus explained.

The Doctor made almost no reply.

He'd noticed now.

Cries. Cries in his head for help; if this creature was psychically linked, perhaps that was Sky; her mannerisms in the voice in his head were the same. He was convinced in that moment that could be the key.

But…he couldn't do it. He had no connection to Sky; he hadn't wanted to interrupt the conversation Papyrus was having with her at that point.

"Sky. Sky, I know you can hear me, someway, somehow. I just want you to know that I can help you." Papyrus told the entity, his voice perfectly echoed by Sky. "Unlike all the other people on this ship." he added, trying to sympathise with both minds in that body. "I get it! I don't mind if you copy me, as long as you can just listen to me!..."

Sky Sylvestry made no independent reply.

"I know you're probably very scared of what's happening!...But…don't worry! You're not past saving, nobody is! Ever! Sky…I can help you." Papyrus stated. The other passengers immediately assumed what they heard at face value.

"I know you're strong enough to make it! And I assure you; the others won't act so hostile when you do. I believe you can do it!"

"Sky. I promise you!..."

"I can SAVE you!" Papyrus assured Sky. Or…

Was it the other way around?...

"Oh my god." the Doctor muttered under his breath.

At that very moment Papyrus felt something tighten around him, every muscle, every bone was fixed and tied in place. It seemed almost as though he was frozen in river ice, but…how did he still have the space to shiver uncontrollably?...What's…happening?...he thought, every word in his mind trembling and appearing to break apart. He tried to open his mouth to speak, ask what on Earth was going on but to no avail.

"Hold on. Did she…"

"She spoke first."

"She can't have."

"She did!"

The Doctor suddenly made a rush for Papyrus, immediately realising what had happened. The voice in the room that was most likely to give themselves away to them. "Papyrus! Papyrus. Papyrus, speak to me, are you alright?!" he pleaded, shaking him around the shoulders in an attempt to revive him, but he was completely paralyzed apart from periodic shivers. Papyrus so badly wanted to reply, to tell him it would all be alright and that it had worked, somehow he had saved Sky, he could just tell. But nothing. Something had tied his voice shut.

"Look at that, I'm ahead of you." Sky commented.

"Look at that, I'm ahead of you." Papyrus repeated, half in joy as she realised Sky was free and half in unease as he realised he was being operated like a puppet.

"It's taken his voice." the Doctor concluded. "That's what the-"

"Did you see? She spoke before he did, definitely!" the professor interrupted, having no time for another viewpoint. "What's happened to Papyrus, though? Doctor, what's happening?..."

"I think it's moved." Sky replied.

"I think it's moved…" Papyrus repeated again.

"I think it's letting me go…" she simpered, tilting her head upwards to the crowd that stood there in disbelief.

"I think it's letting me go…" Papyrus echoed, who was beginning to put the puzzle pieces together.

"What do you mean?..." one of the passengers asked. "Letting you go from what?..."

"He's doing it now, he's the one doing it, it's him."

"Mrs Sylvestry!" the professor asked Sky with a look of hope and relief on his face. "Is that you?"

"Yes, yes, it's me!"

"Yes, yes, it's…me!..."

"I'm coming back…Listen, it's me!..."

"I'm coming back…Listen…it's me!..."

"It's transferred to the skeleton, whatever it is, it's transferred to him." the teenager commented, eliciting the Doctor's attention.

"Listen. That's not what happened. It's taken his voice and now she's the one in control of him." the Doctor explained, but to no avail.

"He's right, that's not what happened…" Dee Dee agreed, turning to the stricken Papyrus, shivering.

"Look at me. I can move. I can feel again. I'm coming back to life…" Sky objected.

"And look at him. He can't move." Papyrus echoed, voice strained and trembling now that he understood what had happened to him.

"Help me. Professor. Get me away from him." Sky ordered, holding out two trembling and new hands. Please, thought Papyrus, don't let my echo this time be dismissed…get me away from her…wait! No! Don't think that, then she'll start having complete control if you think like her too!...

"Please…"

And the next moment, the Doctor watched as Sky was lifted and embraced. He watched helplessly as his mind raced as to how to free Papyrus from Sky's control. "Oh…thankyou…" Sky gasped. She cast a pompous eye on Papyrus as though he was far below him now, a peasant among nobles.

"They're completely separated-"

"They're connected! This entity spreads like a virus. It latches onto one person and imitates them until they can steal them-"

"It's in HIM!"

"No! That's not what happened!"

"It was so cold…" Sky explained, trying to gain a spotlight and a foothold. "I couldn't breathe…I'm sorry. I must have scared you so much." Papyrus' heart leapt a tiny distance in joy before being forcefuly pulled back down again as he realised that Sky might be…free?...Maybe this entity…was in him now?...Every second he tried to fight back and every next second he became more hopeless.

At least…he'd…helped?...

Sky was tucked in a warm embrace. "I wouldn't touch her." Dee Dee suggested, before immediately being shot down and then brought back up again by the Doctor. Arguments broke out. Long-formed allies broke apart. Several times the Doctor tried to stop them but no-one would listen; it was as though they were all posessed. And even now something was wanting to make him fight; not to help, but fight, fight something. And it was failing. His argument was failing.

"And now all we've got is this Papyrus!" someone snapped.

"It's inside his head." Sky commented.

"It's inside his head…" Papyrus repeated ever more helplessly, realising now that it was. His worst fears, that was what it brought back and showed to him, what it showed to everyone.

"It killed the driver. And the mechanic. And now it wants us."

I DON'T! Papyrus yelled within the confines of his mind, before realising no-one could hear him.

"Don't listen to her. This creature feeds on everyone's fears. Everyone's insecurities. If it wanted to kill us, it would have-"

"SHUT UP! What makes you think you know more about this creature than any of us?! Are you on his side?! Defending for this thing, that killed two men and now it's going to kill us?!"

"Just let him e-explain…" the attendant pleaded.

"YOU?! What do you know?! Fat lot of good you've been!"

"THAT DOESN'T MATTER NOW!"

"Just let him explain!"

"It feeds on everyone's insecurities, finds the person with the most weak points and posesses them. Then it finds the next person with the most weak points and posesses them as well and the cycle continues. It isn't posessing him and I know he wouldn't do anything to us, and he can't. It's draining him." the Doctor explained.

"…I…I think so too!" Dee Dee agreed, before feeling the eye of the professor turn on her suddenly.

"No, but that's not true, but it can't be, I saw it pass into him; that thing, it passed onto him. You saw it, didn't you?"

"No, no!"

"Don't be stupid, Jethro, of COURSE you did!"

"…I…I suppose he was right next to-"

"Everyone saw it, everyone."

"That was just a trick of the human mind!" the Doctor snapped becoming increasingly more enraged.

"Yes, you're making it up! I saw her stealing his voice!"

"SOMEONE SHUT HER UP!"

"I…I think you should be quiet, Dee…"

"I-"

"THAT'S AN ORDER! You're making a fool of yourself, pretending you're an expert in…mechanics and suchlike, when I can tell you are AVERAGE at BEST! NOW SHUT UP!"

"That's how he does it." Sky confirmed. "He makes you fight."

"He m-makes you fight…" Papyrus echoed, hardly able to believe what he was actually saying; please don't let anyone believe this, he was thinking, I swear, I'd never force anyone to fight, not ever-

"Creeps into your head…and whispers. Listen. Just listen. That's him. Inside." Sky explained, stopping the arguments mid-frame, mid-expression.

Papyrus felt a shadow appear over him; the Doctor knew what was coming. And there was no way he would let it happen.

"THROW HIM OUT!"

"THAT'S NOT THE SOLUTION!"

"GET HIM OUT OF MY HEAD!"

"Yeah! We should throw him out!"

"DON'T JUST TALK ABOUT IT, YOU'RE USELESS, DO SOMETHING!"

"Yeah, you watch me. I'm GONNA THROW HIM OUT!"

The Doctor stood strong, giving the man approaching a 'you'll have to get past ME first' look. Suddenly, he felt himself wresting with him; primal fighting, pure rage and stubbornness incarnate. Without warning, the Doctor was restrained by the professor and the lady; he struggled and thrashed, yelled Papyrus' name as he was dragged down the aisle; held out his hand to him in one final desperate attempt to save his life. Papyrus' massive boot caught on one of the seats as someone yelled for them to stop.

"Get rid of him!"

"G-get rid of him!..."

"NOW!"

"…now…"

"I don't think we should do this!" the attendant advised them desperately, as Papyrus tried desperately to keep his foot in place, but as the professor came to help he was pulled free.

"NO, NO, NO!" the Doctor roared, as he tried again and again to break free of his captor's grasp.

"Cast him out!…" Sky encouraged them.

"Cast him out…" Papyrus repeated, now completely terrified, willing every muscle in his body to work, just this once, to curl up into a ball and stay that way until they all just left him alone…

"Do it now!"

"D-do it…n-now!"

"Faster!"

"faster…"

"You can do it!"

"You c-c-can do it!..."

"I believe in you!"

"I…believe…in you!"

"Nyeh heh heh!" Sky cackled as she saw her plan come to fruition, the fear she saw, the terror she instilled, it filled her, it satisfied her when nothing else could.

"N-Nyeh…heh…heh?..." Papyrus echoed, realising in that one moment that the entity truly had him, it had everything, his memories, his worst fears…by now he was almost crying out of anxiety for what would come next, the memories of being roughed about like this, everything…that he…wouldn't see Sans…or the Doctor ever again, that this was the end, the end of him…

"That's his voice!" the attendant realised. "It's taken his voice! She's taken his voice!"

The last thing Papyrus saw was a dazzling bright light; somehow he was able to close his eyes, squeezing out a few tiny droplets of pure fear.

For a moment he thought they'd succeeded, and he prepared himself for the end.

"SHE'S TAKEN HIS VOICE!" he heard someone scream.

And then they just screamed in pain.

"1…2…3…4…5…6!"

Papyrus suddenly felt every single tie that had been placed on his body snap at once, and he felt the cold hard floor suddenly hit him; he curled into a ball and trembled once more, still feeling as though this would be the end and completely drained of the energy he always radiated. The Doctor immediately tore free of his amazed restrainers, and made a dash for Papyrus, just to see that he hadn't been killed along with the source.

He made no signal to the Doctor that he was alright or even alive, as far as he was concerned he wasn't even there…there was only one thing that mattered. It was gone, whatever was in there was gone…gone…for good…he was alive…everyone was alright. When he did look out and up towards the shaken Doctor, for once in his life he wasn't ashamed to have someone to cling onto.

The Doctor almost didn't want to know how long it took for Papyrus to actually speak with him, let alone let go of him. His limbs were still taking a while to ease back into his control, and the few times he tried to get up, he failed and slipped onto the ground like a newborn calf. He had never seen someone so terrified, so…retracted, or perhaps that was just a relative thing, when compared to what he was normally like. Any other time, the Doctor thought, he'd be hiding it, but…this…he'd never seen it. He'd never expected this.

It was almost like he was still posessed.

"Repeat: Crusader 50 rescue vehicle coming alongside in 3 minutes. Door seals set to automatic. Prepare for boarding. Repeat: Prepare for boarding."

There was silence in the cabin. Papyrus tried to look composed or at least unshaken, but…everyone had seen how terrified he had been back there. Half of him felt very much embarrassed by how much childish fear he had displayed, far more than he ever needed to show for people to get the point. As he looked around at the scene that had unfolded, he saw that…people were genuinely worried over him, and…it didn't make him happy. Not in the slightest.

He had always had a natural assumption that an event, more often than not, revolved around his actions.

But he wasn't selective over which events he was responsible for.

All this, he remembered, had happened because he thought Sky Sylvestry could be saved. His naivety had led to all this unrest, his near death, and now all these new friendships had been severed.

Because of him.

He tried to pass it off as being good-intentioned as he often did, passing it off as…not a failure. He'd told himself for a long time that he couldn't really fail; that there wasn't such a thing. Many had called it a very narcissistic point of view.

However, unlike what many people suspected…he didn't always believe it. Not all the time he didn't, not when there weren't others to have to convince that the situation he'd gotten them into wasn't all bad.

But this time?

No.

He'd failed.

Sky Sylvestry was dead.

Because of him.

"The hostess…what was her name?" the Doctor asked the cabin.

"I…I don't know." one of the passengers replied, watching the Doctor's face fall. Papyrus' reaction was impossible to gauge, for he had his face turned away from everyone.

Was, he thought. Past tense. That, he realised, was the reason he had been saved from death. The Doctor had not saved him.

Someone else had to die for him to live.

He tried not to be ashamed of himself.

He tried to tell himself it wasn't his fault the hostess died.

He tried to not to care.

He couldn't.

"She didn't…did…she?..." Papyrus asked the Doctor, turning towards the door.

The Doctor looked at him, in a way that, in giving away nothing, gave away everything.

Papyrus turned from him, shivered, and took a deep sigh, wavering with tears being held back.

No-one turned to comfort him.

They got the feeling he wanted to be left alone.

They had no reason to believe that, the Doctor thought, as he read their minds and expressions. There is no reason you shouldn't comfort him, or at least say sorry for trying to kill him, instead of giving some sorry excuse. "I said it was her." they told him. When the same woman minutes before was vying for Papyrus' blood over the surface of Midnight.

If Papyrus still though humans were good creatures after this, he would be genuinely impressed.

"What do you think it was?..." Papyrus asked the Doctor, taking him on the shortest route to the TARDIS possible.

"Dunno." the Doctor replied, giving Papyrus' hand a gentle squeeze, sensing his unusual apprehension. "Reckon I might tell this place's owner about our experience. Give 'em a 0 star rating if I could. 'Bus broke down and my buddy was possessed. Also, the tea didn't have enough sugar in it.'" He flashed a smile in Papyrus' direction, but he got the feeling that he only smiled in return to reassure him that he wasn't still a bit shaken.


End file.
